THE 

MISSIONARY  PIONEER, 

JOHN  STEWART,  (MAN  OP  COLOTJK  ) 


[  LIBRARY   | 

UNWfiSlTY  OF 


THE 


MISSIONARY  PIONEER, 


Oft 


A  BRIEF  MEMOIR 


MFE,  LABOURS,  AND  DEATH 
of 

JOHN  STEWART,  (MAN  OF  COLOUR) 
FOUNDER,  UNPER  dOD 

OF 

THE  MISSION  AMONG  THE  W1TANDOTT8  AT  tttttlt 
6ANDUSKV,  OHIO* 


PUBLISHED  BIT  JOSEPH  MITCHELL. 


PRINTED  BY  J.  C,  TOTTEJfj 
JYb.  9  Bowery. 


3 


1827- 


LOAN  STACK 


Southern  District  o/JV*et0.¥br&,  w. 
BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the 
^twenty-first  day  of  June,  A.  D.  1827,  in 
/the  fifty-first  year  of  Uje  Independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  John  C. 
Totten,  of  the  said  District,  hath  deposit- 
edZin  (his  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  be 
clairiis  as  proprietor,  in  the  words^'kwing,  to  wit  J 


e  The  Missionary  Pioneer,  .  '  trief  Memoir 
of  the  Life,  Labours,  and  Deal,*  vj  John  Stewart, 
(man  of  colour,)  Founder,  under  God,  of  the 
Mission  among  the  Wyandotts  at  Upper  Safa 
tfusky,  Ohio.  Published  by  Joseph  Mitchell* 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  entitled  "  An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of 
Zearning,  bv  securing  the  copies  of  Maps>  Charts  and 
Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copied, 
during  the  time  therein  mentioned."  And  also  to  an 
Act,  entitled  ''An  Act,  supplementary  to  an  Act,  entitled 
an  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing 
the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and 
proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  men 
tioned,  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of 
designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other 
prints." 

FREDERICK  I.  BETTS, 
Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  Mw~York. 


Reprinted  by 
JOINT  CENTENARY  COMMITTEE 

|Mcthodist  Episcopal] Church 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 

III  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 

1918 


/yc 


Springfield,  (O.)May  28,  1821 

REVEREND  SIR— 

Agreeably  to  your  request,  I  offer  you  ray 
opinion  of  the  brief  memoir  of  the  life  and 
labours  of  John  Stewart,  which  you  are  about 
to  publish.  Having  myself  been  the  first  to 
assist  Stewart  in  Missionary  labours  among 
the  Wyandotts,  I  became  acquainted  with 
him,  and  with  the  concerns  of  the  then  infant 
and  unorganised  mission,  early  in  February, 
1819;  and  my  acquaintance  with  Stewart 
was  uninterrupted,  nearly  to  the  period  of 
his  death.  I  have  consequently  had  a  tolera 
ble  opportunity  of  being  acquainted  with  the 
circumstances  detailed  in  your  little  work, 
and  from  personal  knowledge  and  authentic 
information,  I  consider  the  memoir  of  Stew 
art,  in  all  particulars,  as  entitled  to  full  credit. 

In  my  opinion  it  is  due  to  the  Christian 
public,  to  give  them  some  account  of  the  life 
and  labours  of  this  faithful  Missionary  Pioneer, 
and  I  am  gratified  to  find  you  are  about  to 


061 


iv 

publish  something  on  the  subject.  I  have 
also  received  letters  from  Messrs  Isaac  and 
William  Walker,  expressing  their  entire  ap 
probation  of  your  undertaking,  and  inform 
ing  me  that  the  Chiefs,  John  Hicks  and 
Shows  Manoncue  wish  to  be  known  as  de 
cidedly  approving  your  publication,  the  object 
and  contents  of  which  were  made  known  to 
them  by  Mr.  Walker. 

I  am,  Sic. 

MOSES  M.  HENKLE. 
REV.  JOSEPH  MITCHELL. 


PORT  CHESTER  PUBLJ 

PORT  CHSsrn£ft,~rV:  Y. 


PREFACE 


As  the  preface  of  a  book  is  very  seldom 
read)  especially  if  it  be  of  any  considerable 
length,  it  shall  be  an  object  to  make  this  as 
brief  as  can  be  justified  by  the  nature  of  the 
incidents  detailed  in  this  narrative. 

In  the  striking  circumstances  of  John  Stew 
art's  missionary  call,  and  in  the  success  of 
his  labours,  there  is  evident  the  hand  of  a  spe 
cial  Providence,  which  must  be  interesting  to 
the  Christian  commonwealth  ;  and  those  cir 
cumstances  belong  to  them  of  right.  Where- 
ever  it  is  known  that  this  numble  African, 
has  been,  under  God,  the  founder  of  what  is 
now,  perhaps,  the  most  prosperous  missionary 
establishment  on  this  continent;  a  more  par 
ticular  account  of  his  history  and  labours  has 
been  demanded.  And  since  he  has  been 
taken  from  labour  to  reward,  this  call  has  be 
come  more  general  and  pressing.  For  seve 
ral  years  past,  some  of  the  most  distinguished 


Christians  and  Christian  Ministers  in  the 
United  States,  have  earnestly  requested  those, 
whose  former  connexion  with  the  mission, 
gave  them  the  best  means  of  information,  to 
furnish  the  public  with  the  early  history  of 
<hc  Wyandott  Mission,  and  of  Stewart  its 
founder.  This,  for  several  reasons  has  never 
teen  done.  And  one  cause  of  its  delay  has 
been  an  expectation,  fairly  authorised,  that 
such  a  history  would,  long  since,  have  been 
given  to  the  public  from  another  quarter. 
But  as  reasonable  expectation  has  been  so 
long  disappointed,  as  the  facts  of  this  narra 
tive  have  only  lived  in  the  recollection  of  a 
few  individuals,  thus  far,  and  as  delay  must 
soon  have  consigned  those  interesting  facts 
to  oblivion,  it  is  -deemed  a  duty  now  to  rescue 
those  which  yet  remain,  from  that  fate,  by 
giving  them  to  the  world  in  a  more  perma 
nent  form.  The  Editor  has  however  to  re 
gret  the  existence  of  several  circumstances 
which  must  prevent  this  work  from  being 
either  as  full  or  as  interesting  as  could  be 
wished;  Among  these  are  the  following: 
several  persons  from  whom  doubtless  much 


VII 

information  might  have  been  obtained,  have 
already- exchanged  this  life  for  eternal  reali 
ties,  and  the  time  allowed  for  collecting  and 
arranging  the  materials  for  this  little  work 
has  been  so  very  limited  as  to  render  it  im 
possible  to  collect  all  the  facts  and  anecdotes 
of  interest,  which  are  yet  attainable,  relative 
to  the  subject  of  this  brief  memoir.  It  is 
confidently  believed,  that  should  another  edi 
tion  x>f  this  narrative  be  called  for,  it  will  be 
in  the  power  of  the  Editor  to  render  it  more 
acceptable  than  this,  by  the  addition  of  much 
valuable  matter,  which  he  will  be  enabled  to 
collect. 

The  incidents  recorded  in  this  memoir 
may  be  relied  on  as  substantially  correct,  as 
they  were  collected  and  arranged  by  William 
Walker,  who  resided  in  the  Wyandott  Nation 
at  the  time  of  Stewart's  first  visiting  them,  and 
does  to  the  present.  His  opportunities  con 
sequently  have  been  peculiarly  favourable  to 
the  purposes  of  acquiring  correct  informa 
tion,  and  therefore  most  of  what  he  records 
is  from  personal  knowledge.  And  as  his 
character  for  veracity  is  entirely  unimpeacba- 


1>le,  his  narrative  is  entitled  to  the  fullest  credit. 
What  he  has  gathered  from  others  has  been 
collected  from  those  who  were  most  intimate 
ly  acquainted  with  Stewart,  and  with  the  con 
cerns  of  the  mission  in  its  infancy,  and  who 
only  detailed  to  him  such  facts  as  had  fallen 
under  their  own  observation,  or  were  certain 
ly  known  to  them. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  by  the  reader,  that 
this  little  memoir  is  not  intended  as  the  pan 
egyric  of  its  pious  subject ;  but  merely  as  a 
record  of  interesting  incidents,  in  which  he 
had  a  prominent  agency.  Eulogy  on  his  vjr- 
tues  is  not  needed ;  for  Heaven  has  awarded 
him  a  more  substantial  and  enduring  inheri 
tance.  And  though  on  earth  his  lot  was  one 
of  poverty,  persecution,  and  extreme  adversity, 
the  patience  and  resignation  of  Christianity 
bore  him  above  the  waves.  And  though  un 
marked  by  a  stone,  his  ashes  obscurely  re 
pose  in  the  wilderness,  we  doubt  not,  his  vir 
tues  and  his  name  stands  registered  in  the- 
Lamb's  Book  of  everlasting  life. 

JOSEPH  MITCHELL. 

May  28*,  1827. 


PORT  CHESTER,  N.  Y. 


THE  subject  of  the,  following  Memoir,  was 
born  and  lived  in  Powhatan  County,  State  of 
Virginia*  until  he  arrived  at  the  age  Of  about 
twenty-one  years.  His  parents  were  free, 
and ' members  of  the  Bapjist  Church;  but 
John  was  a  careless  sinner.  In  this  situation 
he*  was,  When  about  four  years  afterwards,  .ha 
was  robbed  of  all  hip  property'  while  oti  his* 
way  from  Virginia  to  Marietta;  in  fhe  State  of 
Ohio.  This  circumstance  .brought  him  to 
reflect  seriously  on  the  state  of  his  soul ;  but 
grief  and  vexation  prevailed  over  hdpo  and 
patience.  The  lose  of  his  property,  ttye  dis 
tance  from  his  friends,  the  idea  of  poverty  and 
disgrace,  together  with  the  wretched  situation 
of  his  mind  on  account  of  his  soul's  affairs, 
'brought  him  to  the  shocking  determination 
that  he  would  immediately  take  measures  fo 
hasten  liis  dissolution.  And  for  this  purpose 


J 


MISSIONARY  PIONEER. 


10 

he  forthwith  commenced  a  course  of  exces 
sive  drinking  at  a  public  house,  which  was 
continued  until  his  nerves  became  much  af 
fected,  his  hands  trembling  so,  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  he  could  feed  himself.  In  this 
practice  and  condition  he  remained  for  a  con 
siderable  length  of  time,  still  fixed  in  the  de 
termination  to  destroy  his  life,  and  precipi 
tate  himself  into  ruin.  His  mischievous  de 
sign  was  at  length  frustrated  by  his  landlord, 
who  discovered  his  intention  and  withheld 
spirituous  liquors  from  him.  This  measure 
brought  him  more  deliberately  to  reflect  on 
his  miserable  condition,  when  a  view  of  the 
awful  state  of  his  soul  compelled  him  to  cry 
out,  "Oh!  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me,"  &c.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  he  passed  in  his  mind  the  inquiry,  which 
would  give  the  least  pain  to  his  father's  family, 
to  hear  thut  without  property  he  was  honestly 
striving  to  make  his  way  through  life,  or  that 
by  intemperance  he  had  hurried  himself  to  an 
untimely  grave.  The  result  was,  he  resolved 
to  abandon  the  service  of  "  the  wicked  one," 
and  cast  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  God,  for 


support  and  salvation.  He  then  "joined 
himself  to  a  citizen  of  the  place,"  (Marietta, 
Ohio,  where  he  then  was,)  to  assist  in  making 
sugar^  a  distance  from  town,  in  the  woods. 
This  situation  afforded  him  a  good  opportu 
nity  for  reading,  meditation,  prayer,  and 
seeking  the  Lord  in  private.  Soon,  however, 
he  had  to  quit  his  sequestered  state  and  re 
turn  to  town,  where,  contrary  to  the  most 
solemn  vows  and  promises,  which  he  had 
previously  made  to  forsake  sin  and  seek  the 
Lord,  he  united  with  others  in  shameful  acts 
of  night  re  veilings,  which  instead  of  affording 
relief  to  his  "  wounded  spirit,*'  only  produ 
ced  (in  the  moment  of  retirement  and  reflec 
tion)  greater  grief  and  .distress.  Ah  occur 
rence  here  took  place  which  much  alarmed 
him  :  an  intimate  companion  of  his,  was  sud 
denly  called  by  death  from  time  to  eternity, 
With  this  individual  he  had  made  an  appoint 
ment  to  spend  one  more  night  in  sin ;  but 
death  interfered  and  disappointed  them  both* 
Stewart's  convictions  of  mind  were  thereupon 
greatly  increased,  and  he  began  to  despair  of 
ever  obtaining  mercy  at  the  hand  of  the  Lord. 


12 

Oae  day  while  wandering  along  the  banks  of 
ihc  Ohio,  bewailing  his  wretched  and  undone 
condition,  the  arch  enemy  of  souls  suggested 
to, him  a  remedy ;  which  was  to  terminate 
the  miseries  he  endured,  by  leaping  into  the 
deep,  and  thereby  putting  an  end  to  his  ex 
istence.    To  this  suggestion,  he  at  first  felt  ft 
disposition  to  yield ;  but  his  attention  was  ar- 
rgsted  by  a  voice,  which  as  he  thought,  called 
htm  by  name,  when  on  looking  around  he 
could  see  no  person,  whereupon  he  desisted 
from  the  further  prosecution  of  the  desperate 
project.    He  then  resolved  to  make  another 
effort  to  seek  mercy  and  pardon  at  the  hand 
of  God.    Having  hired  a  house  for  the  pur 
pose  of  carrying  on  his  trade,  (the  blue  dying 
business,)  he  had  another  opportunity  of  be 
ing  much  alone,  which  privilege  he  improved 
in  seeking  the  Lord  "  carefully  with  tears." 
The  more  jbe  exercised  himself  in  medita 
tion  and  prayer,  the  more  was  he  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  his  guilt*    He  now  saw  no 
way  for  him  to  escape  the  Wrath  to  corns— 
he  felt  that  he  deserved  to  be  driven  from  the 
presence  of  the  Most  High  into  "  outer,  dark* 


13 

ness.5'  It  was  then  that  he  was  enabled  to 
cast  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  to 
lay  hold  by  faith  on  the  Saviour  of  sinners  ss 
his  last  and  only  refuge,  crying  "  Lord  save 
or  1  perish  !"  Then  it  was  that  the  Lord 
was  pleased  to  reveal  his  mercy  and  pardon- 
ing  love  to  his  fainting  soul,  causing  him  to 
hurst  forth  from  his  closet  in  raptures  of  un 
speakable  joy,  declaring  what  the  Lord  .had 
done  for  his  poor  soul.  He  now  could  truly  say^ 

"Jesus  all  the  day  long, 
Is  my  joy  and  my  song." 

He  could  then  rejoice  in  the  Lord  from  a 
sense  of  the  "  love  of  God  being  shed  abroad 
in  his  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  &c.  There 
being  no  Baptist  church  near,  he  .did  not  join 
himself  to  any  religious  Society. — In  his 
youth  he  had  imbibed  strong  prejudices 
against  other  denominations,  particularly  the 
Methodists,  of  whom  he  had  a  contemptible 
opinion.  Thus,  slighting  and  neglecting  the 
duties  of  the  temple,  it  will  not  be  surprising 
to  hear  that  he  soon  neglected  those  of  the 
9 


14. 

closet  also,  which  soon  resulted  in  a  dead 
and  barren  state  of  soul.  He  now  began 
again  to  feel  the  pains  and  miseries*  from 
which  the  Lord  had  so  recently  delivered 
him.  Whereupon  he  began  to  doubt  the 
reality  or  genoineness  of  his  conversion,  and 
this  appears  to  have  resulted  from  his  belief 
of  a  doctrine  in  which  he  had  been  educated, 
namely  "  once  in  grace  always  in  grace." 
Jh  this  situation  he  remained  for  some 
time,  bewailing  his  wretched  case,  when,  as 
he  walked  out  one  evening  he  heard  the 
sound  of  singing  and  praying  proceed  from  a 
house*  at  no  great  distance.  It  proved  to-be 
a  :Methodist  prayer  meeting.  His  prejudice 
at  first  forbade  his  going  in ;  but  curiosity 
prompted  him  to  venture^,  little  nearer, .  and 
at  length  he  resolved  to  enter  and  make  known 
his  case,  which  he  did  to  the  few  who  were 
in  attendance.  Here  he  was  Encouraged  to 
seek  with  all  his  heart  the  last  blessing.  Soxm 
*fter  this  he  attended  a  Camp-Meeting,  where 
lie  remained  for  sometime  with  a  heavy  heart, 
and  disconsolate  mind.  He  at  length  resol- 
•ved  to  distinguish  himself  by  taking  a  place 


15 

the  mourners  of  the  assembly,  where 
he  lay  deploring  his  case  all  night,  even:  until 
the  break  of  day,  at  which  time  "  the  sun  of 
righteousness"  broke  into  his  dark  bewildered 
soul.  Peace,  and  "joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost" 
now  succeeded,  and  he  could  shout  '<  glory 
to  God  in  the  highest,"  with  "  the  morning 
stars"  that  witnessed  his  deliverance.  Not 
until  then  were  the  deep  rooted  prejudices 
against  the  people  called  Methodists  removed 
from  bis  mind.  It  was  then  that  he  united  him 
self  to  the  people  whom  he  had  formerly  held 
in  the  greatest  contempt — took  their  people 
to  be  his  people,  and  their  God  to  be  his  God. 
For  the  space  of  three  months  he  went  ott 
his  way  rejoicing,  prosperously  labouring  for 
body  and  soul.  About  this  time,  being  one 
evening  at  private  devotion,  suddenly  he 
heard  a  sound  which  much  alarmed  him : 
and  a  voice  (as  he  thought)  said  to  him— 
"  Thou  shalt  declare  my  counsel  faithfully  j" 
at  the  same  time  a  view  appeared  to  open  to 
him  in  a  Northwest  direction,  and  a  strong 
impression  was  made  on  his  mind,  that  he 
go  joutthat  course  into  the  world  to  de» 


16 

clare  the  counsel  of  God.  This  singular 
event  gave  him  much  uneasiness  and  exer 
cise  of  mind,  and  having  mentioned  the  mat 
ter  to  a  friend,  he  received  an  explanation 
which  greatly  increased  his  concern  ;  for  it 
was  intimated  that  he  might  expect  to  be 
called  upon  to  go  abroad  and  preach  the 
gospel  which  to  him  was  an  afflicting  consid 
eration,  having  tiever  before  entertained  a 
thought  of  such  an  undertaking.  Judging 
himself  entirely  unqualified  for  sucH  a  work, 
he  determined  to  avoid  it  if  possible,  and  ac- 
ciordingly  made  ready  to  follow  his  friends  to 
the  State  of  Tennessee.  He  was,  however, 
prevented  from  taking  this  step  by  a  severe 
illness,  in  which  his  life  was  despaired  of.  He 
etill  fancied  he  heard  sounding  in  his  ears  the 
voice  above  mentioned,  and  the  same  impres 
sion  continued  with  respect  to  his  travelling 
to  the  Northwest.  At  length  he  resolved, 
that  if  it  should  please  the  Lord  to  spare  his 
life,  and  restore  him  to  health  again,  he  would 
go  out  that  course  and  see  where  he  should 
be  conducted,  although  he  feared  he  should 
be  killed  by  the  first  Indians  .he  should  meet 


17 

with.  He  was  restored  to  health,  and  ac 
cording  to  the  determination  he  had  entered 
into  before  his  God,  he  set  out  without  ere* 
dentials,  directions  of  the  way,  money  off 
bread,  crossed  the  Musldngum  River  for  the 
first  time,  and  travelled  a  northwest  course, 
"  not  knowing  whither  he  went"  As  he 
proceeded  he  was  met  by  sundry  persons, 
who,  having  learned  something  of  the  nature 
of  his  undertaking,  strove  in  vain  to  dissuade 
him  from  the  pursuit.  He  urged  on  his  way, 
keeping  about  the  same  course,  which  he  was 
frequently  informed  would  lead  him  into  the 
Indian  country  on  the  Sandusky  river,  some 
times  with,  and  sometimes  without  a  roadi 
without  a  pilot,  without  fireworks,  sometimes 
wading  the  waters  and  breaking  the  ice.— » 
Meeting  with  some  Indians  who  appeared 
friendly,  he  was  by  them  conducted  and  in» 
troduced  to  the  tribe  of  Delawares  at  Pipe- 
Town,  on  the  Sandusky  river.  On  entering 
the  village,  he  was  conducted  to  one  of  the 
Indian  cabins  and  seated.  Here  he  endea* 
voured  to  enter  into  conversation,  but  found 
they  understood  but  little  of  his  language, 
3* 


18 

As  they  contemplated  having  a  dance  that 
day,  and  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  it  by 
the  arrival  of  the  stranger,  they  commenced 
their  exercise  by  one  singing  and  the  rest 
dancing,  which  actions  produced  some  fears 
in  him  that  they  were  about  to  kill  him.  In 
this  however,  his  fears  were  groundless  :  they 
soon  desisted  from  their  exercise;  he  then 
took  out  his  hymn  book  and  sung  a  hymn, 
during  which  time  there  was  a  profound  si 
lence.  When  he  had  ceased  singing,  one 
spoke  in  English  and  said,  "  Sing  more,"  he 
then  sung  again,  and  asked  for  an  interpreter; 
in  a  short  time  one  was  produced  (an  old 
Delaware,  named  Lyons,)  the  Indians  placed 
themselves  in  a  position  to  hear,  and  he  de 
livered  to  them  a  speech.  On  this  occasion 
the  Indians  appeared  attentive,  and  at  the 
close  a  kind  of  entertainment  was  provided 
and  he  reposed,  fuliy  believing  that  he  had 
now  accomplished  the  design  of  his  little  and 
singular  mission,  intending  on  the  next  day 
to  return  towards  Marietta,  from  thence  to 
prosecute  his  journey  after  his  friends  to  the 
State  of  Tennessee.  But  to  his  great  sur- 


19 

prise,  on  the  next  mottling  he  still  felt  strong 
impressions  of  mind  to  pursue  his  journey  to 
4he  Northwest. 

Under  the  influence  of  "this  impression  he 
prepared  to  depart  from  the  village ;  but  was 
requested  to  continue  that  day  with  them  $  to 
this  he  objected,  saying  that  his  business  was 
urgent  and  did  not  admit  of  his  staying  longer 
with  them,  whereupon  with  tears  he  bid  them 
adieu  and  departed.  Having  found  amongst 
.these  people  so  much  friendship  and  hospi 
tality,  "  he  thanked  God  and  took  courage." 
And  having  received  directions  concerning 
the  way,  he  proceeded  towards  Upper  San- 
dusky,  where  he  soon  arrived,  and  called  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  William  Walker,  who  at 
that  time  was  sub-agent  amongst  the  Indians. 
Mr.  Walker,  suspecting  him  to  be  a  runaway 
slave,  interrogated  him  closely.  Stewart  re 
lated  his  experience  and  the  singular  impres 
sions  of  mind  under  which  he  was  conducted 
thither.  Mr.  Walker  being  fully  satisfied, 
gave  him  encouragement,  and  directed  him 
to  the  house  of  Jonathan  Pointer,  a  black 
man,  who  in  his  youth  had  been  taken  pri- 


20 

soner  by  the  Wyandotts,  and  had  learned  to 
speak  the  tongue  of  the  nation  fluently.  He 
soon  arrived  at  Jonathan's  house,  and  obtained 
no  interview  with  him. — With  his  company 
and  conversation,  Jonathan  was  not  very  well 
pleased,  and  consequently  gave  evasive  and 
unsatisfactory  answers  to  the  inquiries  made 
respecting  the  Wyandotts.  Stewart  asked 
him  whether  it  would  be  convenient  to  have 
the  Indians  collected  together  for  the  purpose 
of  preaching  to  them.  To  which  Jonathan 
replied,  that  it  would  be  of  no  use  for  him  to 
attempt  to  make  Christians  of  them ;  because 
many  great  and  learned  men  of  different  de 
nominations  had  attempted  it  in  vain,  and 
that  it  certainly  would  answer  no  good  pur 
pose  for  him  to  attempt  any  thing  of  the  kind. 
Oar  Missionary,  however,  was  not  to  be  di 
verted  from  his  purpose  without  making  the 
attempt :  believing  as  he  did  that  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church  had  entrusted  him  with 
a  special  message  to  this  people.  Jonathan 
was  at  the  same  time  preparing  to  go  to  a 
feast  which  was  to  be  held  in  the  neighbour 
hood  on  that  day.  Stewart  asked  leave  to 


21 

accompany  him :  to  this  Jonathan  reluctantly 
consented.  When  they  arrived  at  the  place 
appointed  for  the  feast,  they  found  a  large 
number  of  Indians  collected  and  dancing.—* 
The  feast  and  dance  were  conducted  with  the 
usual  mirth  and  hilarity.  At  the  close  of 
the  ceremonies  he  asked  permission  to  make 
a  speech  to  them  on  the  occasion,  which  was 
granted.  He  then  for  the  first  time  addressed 
a  Wyandott  assembly,  through  Jonathan,  who 
officiated  in  the  capacity  of  interpreter,  and 
valued  himself  highly  on  account  of  his  elo 
quence  in  the  Wyandott  tongue.  During  the 
time  of  the  discourse,  a  profound  silence  pre 
vailed  in  the  whole  assembly.  At  the  close, 
Stewart  told  them  he  had  one  request  to  make 
of  them,  which  was,  that  if  they  entertained 
feelings  of  friendship  towards  him,  they  would 
signify  it  by  giving  him  their  hands.  Where 
upon  .an  old  Chief,  named  Two  Logs,  or 
Bloody  Eyes,  rose  up  and  addressing  the  as 
sembly  said,  it  would  be  perfectly  correct  for 
them  to  manifest  friendship  to  him,  especially 
as  he  was  a  stranger,  it  would  but  be  in  con 
formity  to  their  established  rules  of  hospitality. 


They  all  then  gave  the  proposed  mark  of 
friendship ;  and  after  making  an  appointment 
to  preach  at  Jonathan's  house,  they  dispersed. 
Pursuant  to  appointment,  a  goodly  number 
met,  and  Stewart  addressed  them  on  the  sub 
ject  of  striving  "  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come."  This  was  in  the  month  of  Novem 
ber,  A*  D.  1816.  The  doctrine  of  repent* 
ance  was  not  well  received  by  Jonathan,  (who 
at  this  time  and  afterwards  acted  as  Stewart's 
interpreter,)  and  supposing  as  he  did,  that 
the  congregation  would  be  of  the  same  mind, 
he  would  sometimes,  whilst  interpreting,  after 
stating  the  substance  of  Stewart's  discourse, 
add  and  say,  "  so  he  says,  1  do  not  know1 
whether  it  is  so  or  not,  nor  do  I  care  ;  all  I 
care  about  is  to  interpret  faithfully  what  he 
says,  to  you  ;  you  must  not  think  that  I  care 
whether  you  believe  it  or  not."  From  these 
and  such  like  expressions,  it  was  ascertained 
that  Jonathan,  so  far  from  embracing  the  doc* 
trines  taught  by  Stewart,  would  not  have  the 
Wyandotts  even  suspect  that  he  took  any  in 
terest  in  the  matter.  Notwithstanding  the 
doubtful  manner  in  which  Jonathan  spake  of 


23 

the  doctrines,  the  word  was  not  without  its 
good  effects  amongst  the  Wyandotts  ;  for 
jnany  were  soon  convinced  of  their  lost  and 
undone  condition,  and  began  earnestly  to  in 
quire  the  way  of  salvation,  calling  upon  God 
for  mercy.  Stewart  then  directed  his  atten 
tion  more  particularly  to  the  situation  of  his 
interpreter,  (who  was  ignorant,  wicked  and 
proud,)  but  without  much  apparent  success 
for  the  present. 

It  was  not  long  however,  before  Jonathan 
became  a  hopeful  subject  of  the  gracious 
work,  so  that,  what  was  at  first  done  by  him 
partly  from  a  principle  of  pride  and  vain 
glory,  now  became  a  pleasant  work,  from  a 
principle  of  love  and  good  will  towards  his 
fellow  beings. 

It  is  true,  some  of  Jonathan's  subsequent 
conduct  has  been  such  as  Jo  cause  some  of 
his  acquaintances  to  doubt  the  reality  of  his 
conversion ;  yet  perhaps  it  is  but  justly  due  to 
him,  to  suppose  that  he  has  been  at  least  in 
some  degree  under  gracious  influence.  It 
was  not  long  before  some  difficulties  occur 
red  j  yet  no  serious  injury  was  done  to  the 


24 

good  work.  A.  few  white  traders  who  had 
been  permitted  by  the  Officers  of  the  Indian 
department  to  settle  amongst  and  trade  with 
the  Indians,  having  heard  Stewart  preach, 
either  from  a  real  suspicion  which  they  enter 
tained  that  he  was  a.  runaway  slave  and  an 
imposter,  or  from  malicious  principles,  advi 
sed  the  Indians  to  drive  him  out  the  country ; 
stating  that  he  was  not  a  licensed  preacher  5 
but  a  runaway  slave,  a  villain,  &c.  and  that 
he  had  only  come  among  them  for  protection. 
This  was  readily  believed  by  many,  and  pro 
duced  some  dissatisfaction  amongst  the  Wy« 
andotts.  His  usefulness  amongst  them  was 
now  in  a  fair  way  to  be  much  abridged  j  for 
although  the  advice  of  the  traders  was  not 
actually  carried  into  effect  by  the  Chiefs  ;  yet 
their  disposition  towards  him  was  visibly 
changed.  Finding  himself  thus  situated,  he 
appeared  before  Mr.  Walker,  the  sub-agent, 
and  informed  him  of  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
Indians  with  regard  to  him,  occasioned  by 
the  misrepresentations  of  those  traders,  and 
that  he  feared  the  Chiefs  would,  under  their 
advice,  drive  him  out  of  their  country.  Mr. 


Walker  informed  him,  that  that  #aS  his 
rogative,  and  that  he  need  give  himself  no 
Uneasiness  from  that  quarter  ;  and  moreovef, 
advised  him  to  pay  no  attention  to  what  those 
traders  might  say,  but  to  go  on  and  preach 
the  Gospel  faithfully,  and  that  if  the  Indians 
should  in  future,  manifest  any  dissatisfaction 
on  account  of  his  continuance  amongst  them, 
to  refer  them  to  him,  and  he  would  satisfy 
them,  and  stand  between  him  and  all  harm, 
whilst  he  should  continue  to  demean  himself 
in  a  christian-like  manner. 

Having  received  such  assurances  of  pat 
ronage  and  protection  from  a  competent 
source,  he  departed  much  encouraged,  and 
resolvfed  through  grace,  to'  be  more  thari  ever 
devoted  to  the  good  work,  to  which  he  had 
been  called.  During  this  time  of  trial,  Jona 
than  remained  faithful  to  his  friend.  A  prin 
cipal  part  of  those  people,  having  been  mem 
bers  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
partially  instructed  in  those  doctrines,  Stew^ 
art  had  many  difficulties  to  encounter  whilst 
endeavouring  to  convince  them  of  the  impro 
priety  of  worshipping  the  Virgin  Mary,  Sajots 


and  Angels.  Many  being  under  a  deep  con* 
cern  on  account  of  their  souls,  would  come 
to  the  place  of  worship  with  their  long  ne 
glected  Rosaries  suspended  around  their 
necks,  and  in  time  of  public  prayer,  would 
repeat  their  almost  forgotten  Romish  forms 
with  much  apparent  sincerity  and  engaged- 
ness.  They  also  began  to  re-learn  their  old 
Romish  hymns,  many  of  which  had  been  ne 
glected  and  forgotten.  Finding  that  Stewart 
taught  doctrines  so  different  from  those  which 
they  had  learned  from  the  Romish  Priest, 
they  concluded  that  he  did  pot  preach  from  a 
genuine  Bible,  or  at  least  that  there  must  be 
a  discrepancy  between  his  Bible  and  that  used 
by  the  Priests,  and  that  consequently  it  must 
be  wrong  for  them  to  hear  or  encourage  him, 
as  the  doctrines  taught  by  him  was  heresy.-— 
These  and  such  like  notions  were  put  into 
circulation  by  those  of  the  Wyandotts,  who 
were  then  regular  members  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  which  had  considerable  in 
fluence  on  the  minds  of  many,  who  at  this 
time  were  under  awakenings.  A  difference 
of  opinion  however,  prevailed  amongst  them  j 


27 

While  some  said  he  was  a  good  man,  others 
said  nay,  he  teacheth  a  new  and  false  doc 
trine,  and  therefore  cannot  be  a  good  man. 
Some  of  the  principal  men  went  to  Mr. 
Walker,  the  sub-agent,  for  the  purpose  of 
hearing  his  opinion  concerning  this  man  and 
his  doctrines,  and  whether  his  Bible  was  re 
ally  the  word  of  God.  He  without  hesitancy 
gave  them  his  opinion,  and  endeavoured  to 
remove  from  their  minds  their  groundless 
fears.  In  order  the  more  effectually  to  ac 
complish  this,  he  appointed  a  day  when  he 
would  summon  Stewart  to  appear  before  him, 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  his  books  in 
their  presence.  Accordingly  on  the  day  ap 
pointed,  Stewart  appeared  before  Mr.  Walker 
and  the  Chiefs,  bringing  with  him  his  books. 
Many  also  who  had  embraced  the  new  reli 
gion  attended,  feeling  a  deep  interest  in  the 
decision  of  the  Agent.  While  he  was  exam 
ining  Stewart's  Bible  and  Hymn  book,  a 
profound  silence  prevailed.  The  poor  Chris 
tian  proselytes  gazed  with  deep  anxiety  on 
the  examiner,  to  whom  it  was  referred  to  de^ 
cide  the  important  question,  whilst  the  ene- 


28 

of  the  cause  were  not  less  anxious.  At 
length,  Mr.  Walker  having  closed  the  exam 
ination,  called  the  attention  of  the  assembly  : 
all  was  attention.  He  informed  them  that  he 
had  carefully  examined  Stewart's  Bible,  and 
found  it  to  be,  as  he  believed  the  word  of 
trod,  and  that  it  most  certainly  was,  the  same 
kind  of  those  used  by  the  Roman  Priests, 
with  only  this  difference,  that  those  were  in 
Latin,  and  Stewart's  was  English.  And  as 
for  Stewards  Hymn  book,  he  said  the  hymns 
and  spiritual  songs  it  contained  were  certainly 
good,  that  the  subjects  were  taken  from  the 
Bible  and  breathed  the  Spirit  of  religion.— 
He  therefore  pronounced  the  Bible  and  Hymn 
book  to  be  genuine  and  good.  A  visible 
change  appeared  in  the  very  countenances  of 
the  Christian  part  of  the  assembly.  New 
spirits  appeared  to  enliven  their  hearts,  and 
joy  to  spring  up  in  their  souls  on  account  of 
the  decision  in  favour  of  the  books.  All  this, 
time  our  sable  Missionary  set  calm  and  tran 
quil,  eyeing  the  assembly  most  affectionately 
The  next  objection  raised  against  him,  was, 
that  he  had  no  written  permission  to  preach* 


29 

This  difficulty  was  obviated  by  Mr  Walker, 
by  asking  them  whether  they  knew  of  his 
having  performed  the  rite  of  matrimony  or 
baptism ;  they  answered  that  they  did  not. 
He  thert  informed  them  that  he  thought  there 
was  no  violation  of  law  ;  and  en  til  it  could 
be  proven-  that  he  had  performed  the  mar 
riage  ceremony,  or  baptized,  no  valid  objec 
tion  could  be  brought  againsf  him  for  endea- 
vouring  to  persuade  sinners  to  serve  God  and 
save  their  souls ;  for,  said  he,  "any  man  has 
aright  to  talk  about  religion,  and  try  to  get 
others  to  embrace  it."  He  then  dismissed 
the  assembly,  and  when  they  departed,  like 
the  Jews  of  Rome,  "  they  had  great  reason 
ing  amongst  themselves." 

We  shall  here  take  occasion  to  notice  some 
of  the  dialogues  which  took  place  during  the 
first  winter  of  this  mission,  as  well  as  bring 
into  view  some  of  the  leading  characters,  who 
were  active,  either  for  or  against  the  cause; 
as  the  argument^  on  different  subjects,  used 
on  both  sides  of  the  question,  will,  it  is  be 
lieved,  be  somewhat  interesting  to  the  reader. 
We  shall,  however,  first  state  that  after  the 
3* 


30 

decision  above  mentioned,  nothing  worthy  of 
notice  took  place  for  Some  time,  except  that 
/Stewart  continued,  without  interruption,  to 
teaeh  the  way  of  eternal  life,  to  a  quite  serious 
and  attentive  congregation.  All  this  time, 
however,  he  had  left  untouched  their  absurd 
notions  respecting  the  powers  of  magicians, 
ivitches,  feasts,  dances,  and  many  other  ridi 
culous  ceremomes,  which  'had  been  handed 
down  to  them  by  their  ancestors,  from  gene 
ration  to  generation.  Many,  although  awaken 
ed  to-  a  sense  of  their  lost  estate,  were  5.0 
attached  ,to  their  old  custqms  and  modes  of 
\vorship,  that  they  found  it  hard  to  renounce 
them,  although  they  were  seriously  told  that 
if  they  wished  to  become  the  followers  of  the 
Jjord  Jesus  Christ,  they  must  abandon  them 
nil,  and  cast  themselves  on  him  as  their  only 
and  last  refuge. 

At  a  certain  meeting,  Stewart,  in  the  course 
of  his  sermon,  made  some  pointed  remarks 
against  their  old  system  of  heathenism,  and 
udded,  that  instead  of  their  mode  of  worship 
being  pleasing  to  the  Lord,  it  was  on  the  con- 
Irary,  displeasing  to  hims  and  that  although 


31 

Ja  (he  time  of  their  ignorance,  God  winked 
at  their  conduct.;  yet  now,  the  gospel  having 
reached  them,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  he 
understood  hy  them,  they  were  all  required 
to  repentt  At  the  close  of  this  discourse,  he 
informed  the  congregation  that  if  any  one 
present  had  -any  objection  to  his  doctrines, 
they  were  then  at  liberty  to  speak.  Where 
upon,  John  Hicks,  one  of  the  chiefs,  arose 
and  spoke  as  follows,  "My  friend,  as  you 
have  given  liberty  to  any  one  who  had  objec 
tions  to  the  doctrines  you  teach  and  endea 
vour  to  maintain,  to  speak  on  the  subject,  and 
state  their  objections  5  I,  for  one,  feel  myself 
called  upon  to  rise  in  defence  of  the  religion 
of  my  fathers  ;~-a  system  of  religion  the 
Great  Spiri^  has  g;ven  his  red  children,  as 
their  guide  and  thfe  rule  of  their  faith,  and  we 
are  not  going  to  abandon  it  so  soon  as  you 
might  wish ;  we  are  contented  with  it,  because 
it  suits  our  conditions  and  is  adapted  to  our 
capacities,  Cast  your  eyes  abroad  over  the 
world,  and  see  how  many  different  systems 
pf  religion  there  are  in  it — there  are  almost 
as  many  different  systems  as  there  are  nations 


y  this  is  not  the  work  of  the  Lord.  No,  my 
friend,  your  declaiming  so  violently  against 
out  modes  of  worshipping  the  Great  Spirit, 
isj  fa  my  opinion,  not  calculated  to  benefit 
us  as  a  nation ;  we  are  willing  to  receive  good 
advice  from  you,  but  we  are  not  willing  to 
have  the  Customs  and  institutions  which  have 
be, en  kept  sacred  by  our  Fathers,  thus  assailed 
and  abused." 

Whereupon,  Manoncue,  another  chief,  arose 
arid  said,  "  I  also  have  a  few  words  to  say  in 
addition  to  what  my  friend  has  said,  who  has 
just  taken  his  seat.  I  do  not  doubt  but  what 
you  state  faithfully  what  your  book  says ;  but 
let  me  correct  an  error  into  which  you  appear 
to  have  run,  and  that  is,  your  belief  that  the 
Great  Spirit  designed  that  his  red  children 
should  be  instructed  out  of  it.  This  is  a 
mistake,  the  Great  Spirit  never  designed  this 
to  be  the  case ;  he  never  intended  that  they 
should  be  instructed  out  of  a  book,  a  thing 
tvjiich  properly  belongs  to  those  who  made 
it  and  can  understand  what  it  says;  it  is  a 
plant  that  cannot  grow  and  flourish  among  red 
people.  Let  me  call  your  attention  to  another 


33 

important  fact. — Where  did  the  Son  of  God 
first  make  his  appearance  ?  According  to  your 
book  he  first  made  his  appearance  away  in 
the  East,  among  the  white  people,  and  we 
never  heard  of  his  name  until  white  people 
themselves  told  us.  And  what  if  we  had 
never  seen  a  white  man  ?  we  never  would 
have  heard  of  this  new  doctrine.  The  Son 
of  God  came  among  the  white*  people  and 
preached  to  them,  and  left  his  words  written 
in  a  hook,  that  they  when  he  was  gone, 
might  read  and  learn  his  will  concerning  them ; 
hut  he  left  no  book  for  Indians,  and  why  should 
he,  seeing  we  red  people  know  nothing  about 
hooks  ?  If  it  had  been  the  vviH  of  the  Great 
Spirit  that  we  should  be  instructed  out  of  this 
book,  he  would  have  provided  some  way  for 
us  to  understand  the  art  of  making  and  reading 
the  books  that  contain  his  words.  Ours  is  9 
religion  that  suits  us  red  people,  and  we  intend 
to  keep  and  preserve  it  sacred  among  us,  be 
lieving  that  the  Great  Spirit  gave  it  to  our 
grand-fathers  in  ancient  days."  Stewart  re 
plied  that  it  was  stated  in  this  book,  that  the  Son 
pf  God,  before  he  ascended  into  Heaven 


34 

commanded  his  disciples  to  "  go  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  unto  every  crea 
ture  ;n  saying  at  the  same  time,  that  he  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,  and 
be  that  belie veth  not,  shall  be  damned."  And 
in  another  place  it  is  said,  "  and  this  gospel 
of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the 
world,  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations,  and  then 
shall  the  end  come."  He  added,  further,  that 
this  did  not  mean  to  all  nations  of  white  people 
only,  but  to  all  nations  composed  of  human 
beings,  including  whites,  Indians  and  Africans, 
that  all  had  share  in  the  salvation  which  was 
purchased  by  the  Son  of  God.  Addressing 
himself  particularly  to  the  Wyandotts,  he  said 
"you  certainly  consider  yourselves  a  nation 
composed  of  human  beings ;  if  so,  then  you 
may  rest  assured  that  this  gospel  will  be 
preached  not  only  to  you,  but  to  all  nations  of 
Indians;  and  not  only  Indians,  but  to  all  na 
tions  under  the  Heavens,  before  the  end  of 
the  world  shall  come.  And  now  my  dear 
friends,  only  consider  what  an  awful  curse  is 
pronounced  upon  those  who  reject  this  peace* 
ful  gospel— who  will  not  liaar  and  believe  it, 


35 

but  coldly  turn  from  the  loving  offers  of  the 
Son  of  God.  You  have  heard  that  he  has 
said,  "  whosoever  helieveth  not  shall  be  damn 
ed."  Awful  curse  !  O  my  friends,  think  well 
before  you  determine  to  reject  this  gospel,  for 
if  you  do  reject  it,  rest  assured  the  curse  will 
fall  upon  you,  especially  upon  you  chiefs,  who 
have  so  great  an  influence  over  your  people; 
lead  them  not  to  destruction,  I  entreat  you !" 
Having  concluded  his  reply,  the  assembly 
was  dismissed. — Manoncue  came  to  Hicks 
privately  and  said,  "  my  friend,  I  begin  to 
(eel  somewhat  inclined  to  abandon  a  good 
many  of  our  Indian  customs,  but  I  cannot 
agree  to  give  up  painting  my  face;  this  I 
think  would  be  wrong,  inasmuch  as  ceasing 
to  paint  will  be  jeopardizing  my  health.1' 
(it  being  a  received  opinion  among  them 
that  painting  the  face  had  a  magic  power 
in  keeping  off  diseases.)  Hicks  replied,  "you 
can  do  as  you  please,  my  friend,  in  this  mat* 
ler ;  for  my  own  part,  I  have  strange  feelings 
about  this  business,  1  hardly  know  what  to 
do."  These  two  chiefs  were  not  Roman 
Catholics,  but  entirely  untutored  Lodfans,  and 


30 

indeed  those  who  were  members  of  that 
church  were  little  better  in  point  of  religious 
information.  At  almost  every  meeting  there 
was  less  or  more  disputing  between  Stewart 
and  some  of  the  principal  men  of  the  nation ; 
especially  after  he  .commenced  speaking 
against  their  feasts,  dances,  &c.  as  being  sinful 
in  the  sight  of  God.  Notwithstanding  their 
disputings,  many  of  the  awakened  persons 
still  continued  to  walk  orderly,  and  to  seek 
the  pearl  of  'great  price.  A  part  of  those 
awakened  persons  were  members  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church,  and  had  strong  pre 
dilections  in  favour  of  her  doctrines  and  ce 
remonies  ;  it  is  not,  therefore,  wonderful  that 
it  was  with  some  difficulty  they  were  brought 
fully  to  acquiesce  in  all  the  doctrines  taught  by 
Stewart.  While  under  the  influence  of  their 
former  principles,  they  as  often  in  their  de 
votions,  prayed  to  the  Virgin  Mary  as  to  God; 
they  also  used  prayers  for  the  deliverance  of 
their  departed  friends  from  purgatory,  crossing 
themselves  when  at  prayer,  keeping  a  multi 
plicity  of  holy  days,  and  performing  pilgrim 
ages  once  a  year  to  St.  Ann's  Church,  in 


37 

Sandwich,  in  the  province  of  Upper  Canada; 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  from  the  priest 
the  pardon  of  their  sins.  These  and  many 
other  absurd  notions  which  rrtany  believed  in, 
were  hard  to  remove.  On  a  certain  occasion, 
while  preaching  to  them  and  endeavouring  to 
convince  the  Romish  part  of  his- congregation 
of  the  many  errors  in  which  they  believed, 
he  said,  "  as  for  your  worshipping  the  Virgin 
Mary,  let  me  tell  you  that  it  is  contrary  to  God's 
commandments,  for  he  hath  commanded  his 
people,  that  they  should  'have  none,  other 
gods  before  him ;'  now  all  who  worship  the 
Virgin  Mary,  saints  and  angels,  violate  this 
commandment ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  the 
New  Testament,  commanding  us  to  worship 
the  Virgin,  or  any  other  saint  or  angel :  the 
Virgin  ought  no  more  to  be  worshipped  than 
any  other  good  person  who  has  found  favour 
*vith  God,  and  died  and  gone  to  Heaven." 
This  was  like  an  electric  shock  to  many  of 
them ;  they  looked  with  amazement  on  each 
other,  considering  the  conclusion  as  nothing 
less  than-blasphemy.  After  the  congregation 
was  dismissed,  many  of  them  were  seeo 
4 


3d 

standing  about  ia  groups,  talking  very  earnestly 
while  others,  "  gallio-like,  cared  for  none  of 
these  things;"  being  neither  Romans  nor 
any  thing  else,  but  sons  of  folly  and  dissipa 
tion,  and  cared  not  whether  their  people  wor 
shipped  God,  the  Virgin,  or  the  devil,  taking 
no  further  interest  in  the  meetings  than,  as  they 
said,  to  "  hear  the  preacher  sing,  and  to  see 
and  be  seen  "  Stewart  possessed  a  very  fine 
shrill' and  .melodious  voice  for  singing,  and 
delighted  much  in  that  part  of  worship,  and 
Indians  being,  naturally  fond  of  music  and 
company,  it  will  not  appear  strange  that  the 
council-house  (the  place  of  preaching)  should 
be  filled  every  Sabbath  day. 

One  thing  is  here  worthy  of  remark,  and 
that  is,  that  not  a  single  instance  occurred 
during  the  time  Stewart  laboured  amongthem, 
of  their  treating  his  person  with  any  indignity 
or  violence.  Notwithstanding  his  doctrine 
was  so  offensive  to  many  of  them,,  yet  in  his 
intercourse  with  them,  he  was  always  treated 
in  a  friendly  and  decorous  manner.  He  was 
hospitably  entertained  among  them,  until  he 
returned  to  Marietta.  No  such  scenes  of 


39 

abuse,  persecution,  cruelty  and  barbarity 
were  witnessed,  as  took  place  at  the  time  of 
the  rise  of  Methodism  in  England,  it  being  a 
maxim  among  the  Indians,  never  to  treat  a 
stranger  who  comes  among  them  with  disre 
spect  or  indignity*  Truly,  a  good  mayim  I 

As  yet  there  did  not  appear  to  be  any  who 
evidenced  a  genuine  conversion,  though  many 
appeared  to  be  really  hopeful  penitents,  and 
mourning  for  "errors  past."  There  being 
no  preacher  among  them,  who  was  authorised 
to  form  them  into  Society,  and  thereby,  in 
some  degree,  cause  them  to  '•'  come  out 
from  among  the  wicked,"  it  will  not  be  sur 
prising,  to  the  reader,  when  he  is  informed 
that  many  grew  weary  in  well  doing,  fainted 
by  the  way,  and  relapsed  into  a  cold,  careless, 
and  indifferent  state  of  mind. 

At  a  maeung  which  took  place,  it  is  be 
lieved,  on  the  taiid  Wednesday  in  February, 
1817,  he  preached  a  sermon,  in  the  concluding 
part  of  which  he  entered  into  a  description  of 
the  day  of  Judgment,  and  in  a  most  alarming 
manner  warned  them  that  they  as  well  as  all 
ihe  test  of  mankind,  must  be  assembled  before 


40 

the  Great  Judge,  to  give  an  account  of  their 
conduct.  "  And  there,  my  friends,"  said  he, 
41 1  shall  meet  you,  and  will  have  to  answer  for 
my  manner  of  preaching  to  you,  Sic."  The 
whole  assembly  appeared  to  be  absorbed  in  se 
rious  thought.  Alarm  appeared  evidently  to 
be  depicted  in  every  countenance.  Another 
meeting  was  appointed  to  be  iield  at  the  same 
place,  at  early  candle-light,  and  the  congrega 
tion  was  then  dismissed.  Accordingly  at  the 
appointed  hour,  Stewart  came  and  found  a 
few  assembled.  He  then  began  to  sing,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  people  began  to  assemble, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  the  house  was  pretty 
tyell  filled;  he  then  rose  up  and  began  to 
exhort,  and  in  the  most  pathetic  manner,  en 
treated  them  to  seek  the  Lord  Jesus  as  the 
Saviour  of  sinners,  and  escape  the  impending 
wrath  of  an  offended  God;  that  now  was  the 
day  of  salvation,  and  not  to  neglect  the  present 
opportunity.  When  he  concluded,  he  in 
formed  them  that  it  was  his  intention  to  en 
deavour  to  hold  a  prayer-meeting,  and 
exhorted  those  who  had  resolved  to  forsake 
their  sins,  to  come  forward  and  take  an  active 


41 

part  ia  calling  upon  God  for  the  forgiveness 
of  their  sins.  A  few  came- forward,  princi 
pally  women,  and  the  exercise  commenced  • 
it  was  not  long  before  some  of  the  idle  spec* 
tators  were  struck  to  the  ground,  to  all  ap 
pearance  dead,  and  in  a  few  minutes  there 
were  many  slain,  some  lay  crying  for  mercy, 
while  others  appeared  to  have  no  life  in  them. 
This  extraordinary  occurrence  spread  a  gen* 
eral  alarm  in  the  congregation :  some  said  he 
used  some  powerful  medicine,  which,  whea 
inhaled,  would  take  the  senses  away,  others 
said,  not  so;  some  ran  after  water  for  the 
purpose  of  resuscitating  the  apparently  dead 
people;  some  cried  out  to  Jonathan,  the 
interpreter,  to  desist  from  singing  those  new 
songs,  and  to  sing  the  Roman  Catholic  hymns, 
or  they  would  all  die.  Thereupon,  an  old 
woman  (aged  about  sixty  years,)  sprang  up, 
having  found  the  pearl  of  great  price,  begaa 
to  clap  her  hands  and  rejoice  with  great  joy, 
and  went  through  all  the  crowd,  proclaiming 
that  God,  for  Jesus'  sake,  had  forgiven  aH 
her  sins,  and  added,  that  what  the  preacher 
said,  was  all  true.  Seeing  her  act  and  hear- 
4* 


42 

ing  her  talk  in  a  manner  she  never  before  had 
been  known  to  do,  they  concluded,  she  un 
doubtedly  was  in  a  state  of  mental  derange 
ment.  Stewart  perceiving  the  consternation 
of  the  people,  advised  them  to  give  themselves 
no  uneasiness  about  the  lives  of  those  persons 
•who  were,  as  they  supposed,  dying  or  insane"; 
he  added,  further,  <{  they  are  not  dying, 
neither  are  they  insane,  as  you  suppose; 
though  some  of  them,  I  trust,  are  dying  to  sin 
and  struggling  into  a  life  of  righteousness, 
peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  and  ad^ 
ded,  yet  further,  that  he  would  be  accountable 
for  all  the  lives  that  should  be  lost,  or  any 
harm  done  to  their  persons.  None,  however, 
were  converted  at  this  meeting,  except  the 
old  woman  above-mentioned,  who  is  yet  a 
living  witness  of  the  power  of  God  to  save 
from  sin ;  but  many  went  away  under  a  deep 
concern  of  soul.  Although  this  meeting  was 
continued  until  nearly  midnight,  John  Hicks 
and  Manoncue  sat  all  the  time  as  silent  spec 
tators,  looking  on  with  amazement,  not  utter 
ing  a  word  for  or  against  this  apparently  dis 
orderly  meeting.  In  a  few  days  a  great  danca 


45 

was  to  be  held  at  the  council-house,  for  the 
purpose,  as  they  said,  of  shewing  the  preacher 
the  way  and  minner  they  worshipped  the 
Great  Spirit : — time  rolled  on,  and  the  day 
arrived  when  the  great  festival  was  to  take 
place ;  during  this  time  the  young  men  had 
been  out  hunting  for  deer,  bear,  &c.  to  be 
served  up  at  the  grand  entertainment ;  they 
returned  with  horse-loads  of  venison  and 
bear-meat.  Suitable  persons  were  appointed 
to  manage  the  preparations,  Sic.  On  the  day 
appointed  a  large  number  of  people,  young 
and  old,  male  and  female,  were  assembled ; 
a  formal  invitation  was  sent  to  Stewart,  re 
quiring  his  presence  on  the  occasion.  He 
came,  accompanied  by  Jonathan,  his  constant 
interpreter ;  a  chief  then  arose  and  informed 
the  assembly  of  the  manner  and  order  in 
which  the  feast  and  dance  were  to  be  con 
ducted.  Stewart  sat  witnessing  this  singular 
worship  or  thanksgiving;  the  preparatory 
ceremonies  being  finished,  the  music  was 
struck  up,  and  the  person  appointed  to  lead 
the  dance  proceeded  to  the  ring  formed  ID 
the  great  council-house,  and  raised  three  tre- 


4* 

inendous  yells,  (which  at  first  startled  Stewart) 
and  commenced  dancing ;  then  another  arose 
and  joined  in,  then  another,  until  quite  a 
lengthy  column  was  formed,  they  kept  mov 
ing  around  following  the  ring;  in  a  few  minutes 
the  women  began  to  fita  in,  old  and  young ; 
but  what  was  Stewart's  astonishment,-  when 
he  beheld  some  mingling  in  the  dance,  who, 
as  he  supposed,  were  true  mourners  in  Zion, 
who  had  renounced  the  vanities  of  the  world ; 
alasl  thought  he,  unpromising  converts  indeed. 
Although  thus  joining  in  the  dance,  did  not 
seem  to  comport  with  the  profession  of  reli 
gion,  yet,  in  the  mind  of  one  acquainted  with 
those  people,  it  would  not  militate  so  much 
against  their  sincerity,  knowing  how  difficult 
it  was  to  convince  them  that  there  was  evil  in 
the  customs,  which  amongst  them  had  from 
time  out  of  mind  been  held  sacred.  While 
this  dance  was  going  on,  many  of  the  young 
men,  as  they  were  passing  around  opposite 
where  Stewart  sat,  would  endeavour  to  display 
their  superior  activity  and  agility  in  dancing, 
cutting  the  most  ludicrous  figures  imaginable; 
sometimes  with  the  head  thrown  on  one 


45 

shoulder  and  the  eyes  shut — sometimes  the 
head  thrown  back  so  that  there  appeared  to 
be  some  danger  of  a  dislocation  of  the  neck 
bone ;  all  this  time  the  feet  were  in  motion, 
keeping  time  with  the  music.  Sometimes 
they  would  bend  so  far  forward  that  the  fore 
head  would  almost  touch  the  ground,  with  the 
hands  placed  on  the  hips,  the  arms  a-kimbo, 
and  the  body  in  a  perfect  shiver,  and  all  this 
accompanied  with  the  most  horrid  yells  imag 
inable.  In  short,  of  all  the  twistings,  writhings 
and  contortions,  of  which  a  human  body  is 
capable,  none  were  left  untried ;  so  antio  were 
their  motions  and  gesticulations,  that  they 
were  enough,  in  despite  of  gravity,  to  draw 
forth  a  burst  of  laughter  from  the  spectator. 
At  three  o'clock,  p.  M.  the  dancing  ceased ; 
the  next  was  a  distribution  of  the  food  pre 
pared  for  the  occasion :  persons  had  been 
previously  appointed  to  attend  to  this  business, 
so  that  it  was  not  long  before  each  person  had 
as  much  food  placed  before  him  as  be  could 
well  dispose  of.  The  repast  went  on  with 
much  mirth  and  good  feeling,  and  in  a  short 
tjme  the  chiefs  dismissed  the  assembly,  and 


46 

tfiey  parted  much  gratified  with  the  pleasure 
they  had  experienced  on  that  occasion.  Not 
withstanding  the  willingness  which  Manoncue 
had  sometime  before  expressed,  to  forsake 
and  abandon  all  his  Indian  customs  except 
that  of  painting  his  face,  yet  he  could  not 
fefrain  from  joining  in  the  dance ;  it  was  too 
fascinating  for  so  great  a  lover  of  pleasure  to 
resist. 

No  certain  information  can  now  be  obtained 
jespecting  what  was  said  or  done  on  the  next 
Sabbath  day,  except  that  Stewart  preached 
t<f  them  as  usuaJ.  The  next  thing  worthy  of 
remark  is,  his  taking  leave  of  them ;  it  appears 
he  had  not  given  up  his  intention  of  following 
his  connexions  to  die  state  of  Tennessee  $  he 
accordingly  prepared  to  return  to  Marietta, 
from  thence  intending  to  proceed  as  above. 
Onv  Sabbath  day  he  delivered  his  farewell 
discourse,  it  is  believed,  from  Acts,  xx  ch. 
and  32  verse ;  a  large  and  serious  congrega 
tion  was  assembled.  In  the  course  of  his 
sermon,  he  began  again  to  enforce  the  neces 
sity  of  a  total  abandonment  of  their  heathenish 
customs  and  notions, as  destructive  to  the  spirit 


47 

of  that  religion  which  could  qualify  them  for 
a  happy  life  and  triumphant  death.  "  For" 
said  he,  "I  have  faithfully  warned  you  that 
your  feasts,  dances,  sacrifices,  &c.  will  never 
save  you  from  ypur  sins,  and  if  you-are  never 
saved  from  your  sins,  where  God  is,  you  never 
can  come;  your  mode  of  worship  is  not 
pleasing  to  God,  but  displeasing,  especially 
since  you  have  become  better  informed;  God 
will  never  hear  your  petitions  while  you  har 
bour  an  attachment  to  those  customs ;  for  it 
is  said  in  the  word  of  God,  'If  I  regard 
iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear 
me.'  My  friends,  I  have  spent  nearly  three 
months  with  endeavouring,  in  ray  feeble  and 
imperfect  manner,  to  teach  you  the  way  of 
eternal  life — I  have  been  instant,  in  season 
and  out  of  season — I  have  prayed  and  wept 
for  you — have  preached  and  exhorted  you  to 
escape  from  the  dreadful  tempest  that  is 
coming,  when  the  wrath  and  indignation  of 
the  Majesty  of  Heaven,  will  be  revealed  in 
the  punishment  and.  destruction  of  all  who 
will  not  obey  the  gospel ;  and  O  my  God !  is 
this  all  to  be  in  vain  ?  Must  I  depart  and  leave 


48 

you  as  I  found  you,  careless,  wicked  aad  un 
godly  ?  God  forbid  it !  Ye  know,  from  the 
first  day  I  came- into  Sandusky,  after  what 
manner  I  have  been  with  you  in  all  seasons, 
serving  the  Lord  with  all  humility  of  mind, 
with  many  tears  and  temptations  which  befet 
me 3  and  howl  kept  back  nothing  that  was  pro 
fitable  unto  you,  hut  have  shewed  you  and  have 
taught  you.  publicly,  and  from  house  to  house, 
testifying  both  to  you  Wyandotts  and  also  to 
the  whites,  repentance  towards  God  and  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. — Wherefore  I  take 
you  to  record  this  day,  that  I  am  pure  from 
your  blood ;  I  feel  now  that  1  have  discharged 
my  duty  to  you ;  God. sent  me  here  to  warn 
you  to  flee  the  wrath  to  come,  and  I  have 
done  so ;  but,  Lord,  who  hath  believed  the 
report  ?  He  then  directed  his  discourse  to 
the  believing  part  of  the  congregation,  and  in  a 
feeling  and  pathetic  manner  exhorted  them  to 
faithfulness:  In  conclusion,  he  said,  "  now 
my  friends,  1  expect  you  will  see  my  face  no 
mpre,  for  I  must  go;  I  shall  meet  you  all  at 
the  Haming bar  of  God;  and  my  friends,  for 
jour  kindness  to  me  s&eJ  came  among  you, 


49 

J  lake  this  opportunity  of  expressing  ray  gm- 
jtudetoyou;  God  will  re  ward  you;  for  he 
hath  said,:"  whosoever  shall  give  to  drink  unto 
one  of  these  little  ones,  a  cup  of  cold  water  in  the 
frame  of  a  disciple,  shall  not  lose  his  reward/3 
He  then  addressed  himself  to  the  chiefs  and 
principal  men  of  the  nation,  in  a  few  words, 
and  concluded.  During  the  se/mon,  a  dead 
silence  reigned,  except  the  weeping  and  sob" 
bing  which  was  heard  in  all  directions  of  the 
house.  He  then  began  to  sing, — 

"  Farewell,  dear  friends,  I  must  be  gone, 
"  I  have  no  home,  or  stay  with  you ;" 

And  as  he  sung,  proceeded  around  among  the 
people,  taking  each  by  the  hand ;  many  un 
derstanding  some  English,  it  had  so  great  an 
effect  upon  them,  that  fortitude  completely 
forsook  them :  even  his  most  violent  opposers 
were  constrained  to  drop  a  tear,  on  his  bidding 
them  adieu ;  it  was  a  sore  trial  to  Stewart 
himself.  Having  gone,  through  the  congregc- 
tion  and  come  to  the  door,  he  stopped,  paused, 
andcastan  affectionate  and  compassionate  look 
upon  them  and  went  out.  Some  followed  Litn 
and  requested  that  he  would  stay  until  tlie 
5 


50 

next  day,  as  they  wished  to  have  an  interview 
with  him  before  he  departed ;  to  this  he  con* 
sented.  The  people  dispersed,  and  at  the 
proposed  interview,  some,  indeed  all  his 
friends  insisted  upon  his  abandoning  the  idea 
of  going  away,  but  to  remain  among  them. 
He  informed  them  that  he  was  under  the  ne 
cessity  of  going,  if  he  had  to  return  again ; 
they  then  insisted  on  his  returning;  to  this  he 
at  length  agreed,  but  said  he  was  poor  and 
would  be  obliged  to  stop  at  the  first  town  he 
should  come  to,  and  work  for  some  money 
to  bear  his  expenses  to  Marietta,  and  of  course 
)he  could  not  promise  to  return  sooner  than 
the  last  week  in  June  or  the  first  of  July. — 
With  this  promise  they  were  satisfied.  At 
tfie  suggestion,  of  Mrs.  Warpole,  (of  whom 
ve  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter,) 
a  collection  was  made  in  the  village  amount 
ing  to  ten  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of  bearing 
his  expenses  and  hastening  his  return :  he 
then  departed.  The  Indians  all  made  prepa 
rations  and  went  to  their  sugar  camps,  as  the 
spgar  making  season  had  come  on.  Situated 
a?  they  were,  it  was  difficult  to  determine  who 


51 

were  Christians  and  who  were  pot,  for  the 
righteous  and  unrighteous  were  all  mixed 
together.  Deprived  as  they  were  of  the  or 
dinances  of  God's  house,  such  as  baptism, 
the  Lord's  supper,  marriage,  &c.  and  not 
having  the  advantages  of  class-meetings,  disci 
pline,  &c.  were  causes  of  the  work  not  appear 
ing  so  flattering  as  it  otherwis'e  might.  Many, 
no  doubt,  were  under  deep  convictions,  and 
groaning  for  deliverance  from  their  burden 
of  guilt,  who,  for  the  want  of  proper  care  and 
nursing  in  the  bosom  of  the  church,  afterwards 
became  discouraged,  grew  cold,  and  finally 
gave  it  up. 

They  were  a  very  intemperate  people,  so 
much  so,  that  on  actual  investigation,  not 
twenty  really  sober  men  could  be  found  in 
the  whole  nation,  which  consisted  of  about 
seven  hundred,  young  and  old.  Stewart's 
preaching  produced  a  reformation  in  regard 
to  this  particular  vice  j  drunkenness  seemed 
to  have  flown  from  their  borders,  and  many 
other  vicious  practices  were  abandoned:  in 
short,  a  degree  of  amendment  was  visible  in 
the  whole  neighbourhood— their  feasts,  dances, 


52 

sacrifices,  &c.  they  could  not  yet  consent  to 
abandon,  so  completely  jvere  they  established 
in  the  belief  that  they  were  instituted  by  their 
Creator  as  their  mode  of  worship ;  (this  was 
not,  however,  the  case  with  all  Wyandotts, 
some  did  not  believe  so,  having  been  better 
informed  from  itifancy.)  Nothing  worthy  of 
remark  took  place,  until  their  return  from 
their  sugar  camps  to  the  village ;  some  wicked 
and  designing  white  men  informed  some  of 
them  that  Stewart's  master  had  come  out  from 
the  state  of  Virginia  to  Ohio  in  pursuit  of  him, 
had  found  and  taken  him,  and  carried  him 
back  to  Virginia  in  irons.  This^  piece  of 
information  was  credited  by  some  and  by 
others  it  was  not ;  however,  it  created  con 
siderable  uneasiness  among  his  friends. — 
Nothing  was  heard  from  him  until  about  the 
second,  week  in  June,  when  a  letter  was  re 
ceived  from  him  by  Mr.  Walker,  enclosing  a 
written  sermon  or  address,  which  he  request 
ed  Mr.  Walker  should  cause  to  be  read  to  the 
Wyandotts  on  a  Sabbath  day  in  their  own 
tongue.  This  was  done  on  the  Sabbath  fol 
lowing,  Jo  a  large  congregation,  many  of  whom 


63 

were  truly  glad  to  hear  from  him,  and  partic 
ularly  to  learn  that  the  above  report  was  false. 
The  letter  to  Mr.  Walker  above-mentioned, 
was  in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 

"  Marietta,  (0.)  May  2&tk,  1817. 
WILLIAM  WALKER,  ESQ.. 

Sir,  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  enclosing  to 
your  care  the  within  written  address,  directed 
to  the  Wyandott  nation,  for  their  information 
and  edification,  hoping  that  it  will  (through 
the  blessing  of  God,)  impress  on  their  minds, 
religious  and  moral  sentiments.  1  have  taken 
the  liberty  to  address  it  to  you,  hoping  that 
you  will  have  the  goodness  to  read  it,  or 
cause  it  to  be  read  in  their  hearing,  and  in 
their  own  language,  that  they  may  understand 
its  true  meaning;  and  moreover,  that  you 
will  try  to  impress  on  their  minds  the  neces 
sity  of  adhering  strictly  to  the  laws  of  God — 
that  their  hearts  should  be  constantly  set  upon 
the  Supreme  Being  who  created  them ;  and 
that  it  is  their  duty  to  raise  their  voices  in 
praising,  adoring,  and  loving  that  Jesus,  who 
has  suffered  and  died  for  the  ID,  as  well  as  for 
5* 


54 

those  who  are  more  enlightened.  Inform 
them  that  although  their  brotiier  is  far  from 
them  in  body,  yet  his  anxiety  for  their  safety 
and  future  happiness  is  very  great ;  in  doing 
this  you  will  confer  a  favour  upon  me  which  I 
shall  ever  remember  with  gratitude.  My  en 
gagements  you  no  doubt  recollect,  were,  that 
I  should  return  about  the  last  week  in  June, 
but  owing  to  misfortunes  and  disappointments 
to  which  we  are  all  liable,  together  with  a 
wound  I  accidentally  received  on  my  leg,  will 
prevent  my  having  the  pleasure  of  seeing  or 
being  with  you  until  the  middle  of  July ;  at 
which  time  i  hope,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  and  the  Wy- 
andott  people  generally.  At  that  time  I  shall 
not  fail  to  offer  verbally,  my  gratitude  to  you 
and  your  dear  family,  for  the  services  yon  and 
they  have  rendered  me. 

May  I  ask  you  to  have  the  gtfodness  to 
write  to  me .?  and  please  inform  me  of  the 
general  state  of  those  persons  that  have  re- 
formed  since  1  first  went  among  them,  and 
how  many  have  evidenced  a  change  since  I 
came  away,  and  ivhether  they  continue  to 


55 

conduct  themselves  with  that  sincerity  of  heart, 
that  would  be  acceptable  in  the  eyes  of  God$ 
finally,  whether  they  appear  as  anxious  for  my 
return,  as  they  appeared  to  be  for  my  stay  when 
I  was  coming  away.  In  attending  to  these 
requests  of  mine,  you  will  confer  an  obligation 
which  will  be  ever  remembered,  with  every 
mark  of  gratitude  and  respect. 

I  remain  your  humble  servant,  and  in  every 
instance  sincerely  hope,  not  only  to  meet 
with  your  approbation,  but  that  also  of  my 
God, 

JOHN  STEWART." 


THE  ADDRESS. 

"  My  dear  and  beloved  Friends : 

I,  your  brother  traveller  to  eternity,  by 
the  grace  and  mercy  of  God,  am  blessed  with 
this  opportunity  of  writing  to  you ;  although 
1  be  far  distant  from  you  in  body,  yet  my 
mind  is  oft  times  upon  you.  1  pray  you  to 
be  watchful  that  the  enemy  of  souls  do  not 
ensnare  you ;  pray  to  the  Lord  both  day  and 
night  with  a  sincere  heart,  and  he  will  uphold 


56 

you  in  all  your  trials  and  troubles.  Thewords 
that  I  shall  take-as  a  standard  to  try  to  encou 
rage  you  from,  may  be  found  in  the  5th 
chapter  of  Matthew,. 6th  verse,  *  Blessed  are 
they  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness, 
for  they  shall  be  filled.'  These  words  were 
spoken  by  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  they 
are  firm  and  sure ;  for  his  words  are  more 
firm  than  the  heavens  or  the  earth.  Likewise 
the  promise  appears  to  be  permanent;  it  does 
not  say  it  may  be,  or  perhaps,  so  as  to  leave 
it  doubtful ;  but,  'they  shall  be  filled.'  This 
man,  Jesus  Christ,  spake  like  one  who  pos 
sessed  power  to  fill  and  satisfy  the  hungering 
soul,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  dispute  his 
ability  to  do  so ;  knowing  that  he  made  all 
things  that  are  made,  and  made  man  for  his 
service,  then  we  are  bound  to  believe  that  he 
is  a  Being  of  all  power,  able  to  fulfil  all  his 
promises  to  all  mankind.  Though  he  made 
us  for  his  service  we  have  all  gone  astray  into 
the  forbidden  paths  of  sin  and  folly ;  therefore 
the  promise  appears  to  be  held  out  to  a  par 
ticular  class  of  people,  who,  happy  are  they, 
if  they  find  themselves  in  this  hungering  and 


57 

thirsting  after  the  -righteousness  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  In  the  first  place,  my  friends, 
I  shall  endeavour  to  shew  you  who  it  is  that 
this  gracious  promise  is  made  to,  or  how  it  is 
that  we  have  a  right  to  this  promise ;  accord* 
ing  to  the  light  the  Lord  has  given  me,  it  is 
not  him  that  is  living  in  open  rebellion  against 
God,  and  going  contrary  to  his  commands— 
that  closes  his  eyes  against  the  light— that  is 
barring  the  door  of  his  heart  against  the  striv 
ings  of  the  blessed  Spirit,  that  is  continually 
admonishing  him  to  forsake  the  ways  of  sin, 
and  turn  and  seek  the  salvation  of  his  soul  j 
it  is  that  man  or  woman  who  has  called  upon 
that  God  that  hears  sinners  pray,  and  who 
will  have  mercy  upon  such  as  will  call  upon  him 
with  sincerity  of  heart,  really  desiring  to  re 
ceive  and  believing  that  he  is  able  to  give  you. 
The  Lord  by  his  goodness  will  begin  to  take 
off  the  veil  that  the  enemy  has  veiled  you 
with,  then  you  begin  to  see  how  thou  hast 
strayed  from  the  right  way,  this  causes  the 
sinner  to  be  more  and  more  engaged :  this 
good  and  great  Saviour,  who  sees  and  knows 
the  secrets  of  every  heart,  seeing  the  poor 


58 

soul  xvilling  to  forsake  the  service  of  the  devil, 
moves  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  sinner,  his 
glorious  light  shines  into  his  heart,  he  gives 
him  to  see  the  pool  of  crime  that  he  has  com* 
mitted  against  the  Blessed  Saviour  who  hung 
on  ihe  tree  for  the  sins  of  the  world ;  this 
makes  him  mourn  and  grieve  over  his  sias, 
and  calling  on  the  mighty  Saviour,  as  his  last, 
his  best  refuge,  for  help;  finding  that  there 
is  no  help  in  and  of  himself,  seeing  that  all 
he  has  done  is  nothing,  this  causes  the  soul 
to  try  to  make  his  last  prayer,  crying  '  Lord 
save,  or  I  perish;'  thou  wouldst  be  just  in 
sending  me  to  destruction,  but  Lord  save,  for 
Christ's  sake ;  Lord,  I  have  done  all  I  can 
do,  take  me,  do  thy  will  with  me,  for  thou 
knowest  better  what  to  do  with  me  than  I  can 
desire.  This  blessed  Saviour  shews  his  face 
with  ten  thousand  smiles — lays  his  hand  to 
the  work — breaks  the  snares  of  sin — unlooses 
him  from  the  fetters  and  chains  of  unbelief- 
sets  the  soul  at  liberty — puts  a  new  song  in 
his  mouth — makes  the  soul  rejoice  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory ;  it  is  then  he 
desires  to  go  to  his  friend  who  has  done  so 


59 

much  for  him,  add  leave  this  troublesome 
world ;  but  the  soul  has  to  stay  until  it  has 
done  its  duty  on  earth,  which  will  not  be  long. 
After  a  few  more  rolling  suns  of  this  life,  the 
tempter  begins  to  tempt  him ;  ,the  w6rld,  the 
flesh  and  the  devil  all  unite,  the  poor  soul 
begins  to  mourn  and  grieve,  because  he  can 
not  do  as  he  would  wish ;  when  he  would  do 
good,  evil  is  present;  then  it  is  the  soul  begins 
to  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.  My 
friends,  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  for 
this  promise  is  to  you  and  to  all  mankind ; 
yes,  they  shall  be  filled  with  water  issuing 
from  the  throne  of  God.  O,  my  friends,  pray 
to  God  to  give  you  a  hungering  and  thirsting 
after  righteousness !  seek  for  it  and  you  shall 
find  it,  for  you  shall  reap  in  due  season  if  you 
faint  not.  If  you  persevere  in  the  way  of 
well  doing,  you  will  find  in  your  path  clusters 
of  sweet  fruits,  that  will  satisfy  your  hunger 
ing  souls,  and  being  faithful  to  your  Lord's 
commands,  when  you  have  made  your  way 
through  much  tribulation,  and  lie  down  on 
your  dying  bed,  you  will  be  filled  with  the 
glorious  prospect  of  the  reward  that  awaits 


60 

you;  guardian  angels  wait  around  your  bed, 
to  bear  your  soul  away  to  those  bright  worlds 
of  everlasting  day,  where  the  friend  of  poor 
sinners  reigns.  This  fills  the  soul  with  the 
sweets  of  love  divine,  this  methinks,  will  make 
the  dying  bed  of  the  man  or  woman,  *  soft 
as  downy  pillows  are.'*  Therefore,  my 
friends,  if  you  hold  out  faithful,  you  will  have 
part  in  the  first  resurrection ;  then  it  will  be 
that  you  will  see  your  Lord  and  master* face 
to  face ;  then  it  will  be  that  you  will  hear  that 
blessed  sentence  'Come  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world.'  Then 
shall  you  sit  down  with  the  people  of  God  in 
that  kingdom,  where  your  Saviour  with  his 
soft  hand  will  wipe  all  tears  from  your  eyes. 
There  you  shall  see  and  be  with  him,  and 
praise  him  to  all  eternity.  Having,  after  a 
broken  and  imperfect  manner,  my  friends* 
shewn  you  the  characters  of  tfiose  who  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness, Ishall  endeavour 
to  say  a  few  words  to  that  class  of  people,  who 
I,  in  the  foregoing  part  of  my  discourse  said, 
had  no  part  in  the  promise.  A  few  words  of 


61 

consolation  to  the  sinner ;  that  is,  the  Lotd  is 
willing  to  save  all  who  will  call  upon  him 
with  a  sincere  heart)  at  the  same  time  having 
determined  to  forsake  all  sin,  and  to  seek  the 
salvation  of  their  souls.    Now,  my  friends, 
you  who  have  been  at  war  against  this  great 
friend  of  sinners,  now  turn,  for  behold  now  is 
the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation. 
Take  into  consideration,  realize  how  long  the 
Lord  has  spared  your  lives,  and  all  this  time 
you  have  been  resisting  his  holy  and  blessed 
Spirit— »this  Spirit  the  Lord  has  sent  to  warn 
you,  and  entreat  you  to  turn  to  the  Lord ; 
But  oh !   my  friends,  how  often  have  you 
thrusted  that  good  spirit  away,  and  forced  it 
to  depart  from  you !    Let  me  inform  you,  if 
you  continue  to  resist  this  good  spirit,  it  will 
after  a  while  leave  you,  never  more  to  return ; 
for  God  hath  said,  'my  spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man.'    Therefore,   my  friends, 
though  you  have  caused  the  spirit  to  go  away 
grieved,  now  begin  tos  encourage  and  attend 
to  its  admonitions;  he  that  receives  it  and 
obeys  its  directions,  receives  Ckri$tt  and  at 
the  same  time  receives  God  the  Father.    Bfy 
6 


62 

friends,  if  you  will  not  adhere  to  the  Lord's 
Spirit,  neither  to  the  entreaties  of  your  friend, 
the  time  draws  on  when  you  will  wish  you 
had  spent  this  glorious  opportunity  the  Lord 
has  given  you,  in  preparing  to  meet  Him  who 
is  to  judge  the  world.  Then  it  will  be  you 
will  have  to  hear  and  abide  by  that  dreadful 
sentence  'Depart  ye  cursed — ye  workers  of 
iniquity,  for  I  never  knew  you.'  Oh !  my 
friends,  consider  you  must  go  into  fire  pre 
pared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels,  where  the 
worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched. 
Some  of  you  may  put  off  this  and  think  it  is 
a  Jong  time  yet  before  it  comes  to  pass ;  but 
consider,  if  the  Lord  does  not  call  you  by 
judgment,  death  is  always  near,  and  he  taking 
off  our  friends  both  on  our  right  and  on  our 
left  hands.  Ah!  we  must  all,  sooner  or  later, 
be  called  to  lie  on  a  sick  bed,  when  no  phy 
sician-  can  effect  a  cure,  when  death — cold 
and  dreary  death  will  lay  hold  on  us  j  then 
will  we  have  a  view  of  awful  eternity,  and  if 
unprepared,  horror  will  seize  upon  the  sou), 
while  our  friends  wait  around  our  bed,  to  see 
us  bid  the  world  adieu.  Oh !  what  anguish 


63 

will  tear  the  soul  of  the  sinner !    What  bitter 
lamentations  will  then  be  made  for  mis-spent 
opportunities,   slighted  mercies  !    O !  that  I 
had  spent  my  time  more  to  the  Lord  !     Then 
you  will  say,  farewell  my  friends,  I  have  got 
to  go,  for  devils  are  waiting  round  my  bed,  to 
drag  my  soul  away  to  hell.    Then  will  you 
remember  how  often  you  grieved  the  good 
Spirit  of  the  Lord,  how  often  you  drove  it 
from  you,  but  too  late,  you  must  go  to  endure 
the  horrors  of  everlasting  burnings.     Then, 
ray  friends,  accept  of  my  feeble  advice ;  bear 
constantly  in  mind  the  necessity  of  obtaining 
this  blessed  promise,  and  ever  let  your  hearts 
and  conduct  be  guided  by  the  directions  of 
that  blessed  Saviour  who  died  for  you,  that 
you  might  live.     You  who  have  set  out  in  the 
way  of  well  doing,  be  faithful  unto  death,  and 
you  will  be  conveyed  by  angels  to  Abraham's 
bosom,  and  there  meet  the  sweet  salutation, 
of  *  well  done  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord/    And  may 
God  bless  you  and  keep  you  in  the  path  of 
righteousness,  until  he  shall  see  fit  to  close  your 
eyes  in  death.    Now  may  the  blessing,  &c. 
JOHN  STEWART." 


64 

At  the  time  set  by  him  for  his  return,  be 
arrived  at  Sandusky.     On  his  arrival,  he 
learned  with  much  sorrow  and  regret,  that  a 
young  man  of  an  amiable  disposition,  whom 
he  sincerely  loved,  and  who  once  bio)  fair  to 
become  a  pious  and  useful  man,  (for  when 
Stewart  left  Sandusky,  he  appeared  to  be 
much  engaged  in  seeking  the  salvation  of  his 
soul)  had  been  murdered  in  a  drunken  frolic. 
Poor  young  man,  lost  all  his  good  desires  and 
fell  into  the  snare  of  the  devil.    Stewart  now 
without  delay,  wen/  about  seeking  those  he 
left  in  the  service  of  the  Lord.    Some  had 
turned  back  to  the  beggarly  elements  of  the 
worlds-some  remained  faithful.     He  imme 
diately  commenced  preaching  as  h£  had  for 
merly  done.    He  now  found  many  Wyan- 
dotts  whom  he  had  not  seen  when  he  was  first 
among  them,  (they  having  been  out  Inmting,) 
and  of  course  his  preaching  was  a  new  thing 
to  them.    It  was  not  long  before  a  violent 
opposition  was  raised  by  some  of  the  princi 
pal  men  of  the  nation  against  the*  progress  of 
this  new  religion.    Many  arguments  were 
used  by  those  in  the  opposition,  to  prevent 


the  success  of  Stewart's  ministry.  The  prin 
cipal  leaders  of  this  opposition  were  Manon- 
cue,  and  Two  Logs,  or  Bloody  Eyet,  both 
Chiefs  in  the  nation.  They  represented  in 
glowing  colours,  the  great  and  many  evils  and 
calamities  that  would  befal  them  as  a  people 
or  nation,  if  they  abandoned  the  sacred  insti 
tutions  which  the  God  of  the  red  people  had 
given  them  as  their  mode  of  worshipping  him  : 
institutions  also  designed  for  their  amuse 
ment — that  they  would  justly  incur  the  dis 
pleasure  of  the  great  Spirit  by  such  a  step — 
that  the  great  Spirit  designed  those  institu 
tions  to  be  held  sacred  among  them  and  kept 
up  fotever.  They  exhorted  the  people  never 
to  entertain  the  idea  of  abandoning  them,  as 
suring  them  that  while  they  continued  to  ad 
here  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  they  would 
be  on  the  safe  side.  * 

Summer  was  with  them,  a  season  of  amuse 
ment  and  great  happiness.  Feasts,  dances, 
ball-plays,  foot-races,  horse-races,  &c.  were 
their  chief  delight,  and  it  will  not  be  wondered 
at,  that  they  should  with  great  reluctance  give 
up  the  things  which  afforded  them  so  much 
6* 


66 

pleasure.  Through  the  course  of  the  sum 
mer,  dance  succeeded  dance,  and  feast  sue* 
ceeded  feast,  until  Autumn  admonished  them 
to  resume  the  chase. 

Sometime  in  the  month  of  August,  a  large 
number  of  Wyandotts  were  collected  at  a 
fcouse-raising,  and  Stewart  being  present, 
Two  Logs  began  in  a  very  violent  and  bois 
terous  manner  to  declaim  against  Stewart  and 
his  doctrine  ;  a  friend  of  Stewart's  replied  in 
a  very  spirited  manner.  This  brought  on  a 
Considerable  controversy,  in  which  several 
took  part.  Two  Logs  objected  particularly 
to  his  preaching  against  their  dancing,  feast 
ing,  &c.  At  length  Stewart  was  called  upon 
to  defend  his  doctrines  against  the  formidable 
attack  made  by  Two  Logs.  Stewart  in  a 
mild  and  plain  manner  endeavoured  to  con. 
•uince  him  of  the  evil  tendency  of  the  practi 
ces  he  so  warmly  advocated,  and  among  other 
things  he  stated  that  a  poet  had  represented 
the  dancing  and  frolicking  part  of  the  damned, 
as  crying  out  in  their  distress  and  agony,  ami 
saying. 


67 

'•'Kow  Hail!  all  haill  ye  frightful  ghosfcy 

With  whom  I  once  did  dtfell, 
And  spent  my  days  in  frantic  mirth, 

And  danced  my  soul  to  hell." 

At  this  Two  Logs  raised  a  great  hoarse  laugh) 
and  inquired  whether  the  persons  who  made 
those  bitter  lamentations  were  Indians,  and 
added,  "1  do  not  believe  the  Great  Spirit 
will  punish  his  red  children  for  dancing, 
feasting,  &c.  Yet  I  cannot  say  that  he  will 
not  punish  white  people  for  doing  these 
things;  for  to  me  it  looks  quite  probable  the 
Great  Spirit  has  forbidden  these  things  among 
the  whites,  because  they  are  naturally  wicked, 
quarrelsome  and  contentious ;  for  it  is  a  truth 
they  cannot  deny,  that  they  cannot  have  a 
dance,  a  feast,  or  any  public  amusement,  but 
some  will  get  drunk,  quarrel,  fight,  or  do 
something  wrong.  Now,  my  friend,  you 
have  been  present  at  several  of  our  dances 
and  feasts,  and  did  you  see  any  of  these  bad 
things  going  on  ?  No,  we  have  our  public 
amusements  in  peace  and  good  will  to  each 
other,  and  part  in  the  same  manner.  Now, 


68 

where  is  the  great  evil  you  see?"    It  is  not. 
known  what  Stewart's  reply  was. 

Two  Logs  would  sometimes  tell  the  people, 
it  was  really  derogatory  to  their  character,  to 
have  it  said,  that  they  had  a  Negro  for  their 
preacher,  as  that  race  of  people  was  always  con 
sidered  inferior  to  Indians.  "  The  Great  Spi 
rit,"  said  he,  "  never  created  Negroes,  they 
were  created  by  the  Evil  Spirit."  When  as 
sembled  at  the  place  "  where  prayer  was  wont 
to  be  made"  and  a  sermon  preached,  either 
Mononcue  or  Two  Logs  were  sure  to  rise 
up,  and  refute  (as  they  thought)  the  sermon. 
A  great  stir  took  place  in  consequence  of 
some  person,  who,  it  is-  said,  had  seen  a  vis 
ion.  This  person  related  it  to  several  of  the 
principal  men.  It  was  as  follows  :  On  a  cer 
tain  day  while  Stewart  was  preaching  in  the 
Council-House,  she  rose 'up,  went  out  and 
proceeded  to  a  vacant  house  a  short  distance 
off,  and  when  she  came  near,  she  found  a 
man  standing  by  the  corner  of  the  house, 
looking-towards  the  Council  House*  He 
spoke  to  her  and  requested  her  to  stop,  which 
she  did.  He  then  informed  her  that  he  was 


39 

the  God  of  the  red  people ;  that  he  had  come 
to  warn  his  pedple  personally  against  embra 
cing  the  religion  of  the  white  people,  which, 
if  they  did  receive,  would  bring  on  them  and 
their  children  dreadful  calamities :  it  would 
be  the  means  of  destroying  them  as  a  nation. 
That  man  (meaning  Stewart)  though  here 
under  the  specious  pretence  of  trying  to  make 
the  red  people  religious,  according  to  the 
white  man's  religion,  is  here  in  reality  for 
the  purpose  of  doing  you  a  great  injury, 
which  you  cannot  and  will  not  see,  until  the 
evil  itself  conies  upon  you ;  and  added  that 
the  only  way  to  avoid  the  impending  destruc 
tion  was,  not  to  listen  to  his  preaching ;  but 
to  go  on  and  live  as  they  had  lived ;  and  then 
vanished.  It  appears  this  Deity  did  not  see 
proper  to  inform  her  what  the  evil  was  which 
Stewart  really  intended  to  bring  upon  the  pa* 
tion.  This  report  soon  noised  abroad  :  some 
believed ;  but  many  did  not.  Stewart  being 
informed  of  it,  he  immediately  went  to  visit 
this  woman,  for  the  express  purpose  of  hear 
ing  her  relate  her  vision.  She  very  readily 
complied,  and  stated  what  she  had  seen  and 
heard.  He  informed  her  that  he  did  not  be* 


70 

lieve  her,  as  there  was  no  such  being  as  a 
distinct  God  for  Indians — that  there  was  hut 
one  God,  and  he  created  White,  Red  and 
Slack  people.  He  then  made  some  inquiry 
concerning  the  woman's  character  for  truth 
and  veracity,  and  found  that  it  was  not  very 
good.  Notwithstanding  her  character  for 
truth  was  doubtful,  yet  those  persons  who 
were  opposed  to  Stewart's  preaching  made 
use  of  her  vision  to  further  their  purposes. 

Many  were  the  visions,  revelations,  prophe 
cies,  &c.  which  were  sounded  about  the 
whole  neighbourhood :  all  appearing  to  aim  at 
the  destruction,  of  Stewart's  preaching.  A 
report  was  .raised  by  some  of  the  opposition, 
and  industriously  circulated  among  the  people, 
that  many  years  before  the  white  people  disco 
vered  this  continent,  one  of  the  old  Wyan- 
dott  Prophets  prophesied  that  it  would  come 
to  pass,  when  an  entire  new  race  of  people 
should  come  across  the  great  water  and  over 
spread  the  whole  continent,  the  red  people 
should  not  be  able  to  oppose  them — that  by 
degrees  the  Indians  would  disappear,  their 
territorial  bounds  become  very  much  circum- 


71 

scribed — each  nation  would  be  confined  to 
small  spots  of  land ;  but  this  would  not  be  the 
end ;  the  next  thing  would  be,  a  man  of  a 
black  skin  would  come  among  them,  who, 
though  urider  the  semblance  of  friendship, 
would  effect,  ultimately,  their  entire  over 
throw  and  destruction ;  and  that  the  only  way 
for  them  to  escape  was,  not  to  countenance 
him  or  give  him  any  encouragement,  nor 
listen  to  any  thing  he  might  say,  &c.  Jona 
than's  influence  in  the  nation  was  but  little,  m 
consequence  of  his  former  bad  character ;  for 
all  knew  him  to  have  been  too  much  given  to 
telling  of  falsehood^ ;  this  circumstance  placed 
Stewart  in  an  unpleasant  situation,  and  was 
much  against  his  success  in  his  work.  Some 
said  that  Jonathan  while  interpreting  would 
say  more  than  Stewart  said,  and  would  narrow 
down  his  discourses  to  suit  his  own  views  and 
feelings. 

Nothing  remarkable  transpired  during  this 
summer.  Stewart  continued  preaching. — 
Those  who  professed  to  believe  in  the  Chris- 
tain  religion  still  appeared  to  manifest  good 
desires,  but  took  no  active  part  either  way.  r 


In  the  month  of  August,  A.  D.  1817,  a 
treaty  was  called  by  the  Commissioners  on 
part  of  the  general  Government,  to  be  held  at 
Fort  Meigs  with  the  Wyandotts  and  other 
nations  of  Indians,  for  the  purpose  of  purcha 
sing  their  lands.  A  general  attendance  was 
requested*  While  preparations  were  making 
to  attend  the  treaty,  Stewart  deemed  it  advi 
sable  to  return  to  Marietta,  and  remain  there 
until  winter.  Nearly  the  whole  nation  went, 
leaving  but  a  few  individuals-to  take  charge  of 
their  houses,  cornfields,  &c.  As  the  most 
of  the  facts  related  jn  this  little  work  have 
been  hastily  collected  frdm  the  recollection 
of  individuals,  it  has  so  happened  that  no 
information  has  been  furnished  relative  to 
Stewart,  or  his  labours  among  the  Wyandotts, 
from  the  time  of  his  leaving  the  nation  to  go 
to  Marietta,  as  above  stated,  until  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1818.  At  that  time  he 
hed  to  encounter  difficulties,  which,  although 
they  were  not  altogether  of  a  new  character, 
yet  as  they  proceeded  from  a  new  and  unex 
pected  source,  they  were  of  a  truly  disagree- 
able  nod  f  aiflful  nature.  Certain  M issionar 


73 

ries  in  travelling  to  the  North  called  with  the 
Wyandotts,  among^vhom  Stewart  was  labour- 
ing,  and  spent  a  short  time  in  preaching  to 
them.     On  ascertaining  how  remarkably  use 
ful  Stewart's  labours  had  been  in  bringing 
the  Indians  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and 
how  highly  he  was  esteemed  by  most  of  them, 
they  proposed  to  him  to  receive  him  as  a 
member  of  their  church,  and  to  employ  him 
as  one  of  their  Missionaries  on  that  station,  at 
a  very  comfortable  salary  j    but  as  from  a 
difference  in  religious  opinions  from  them,  he 
could  not  accept  their  offer,  he  refused  j 
whereupon  they  demanded  tho  authority  by 
which  he  was  acting  as  a  gospel  minister  and 
as  a  Methodist  Missionary.    As  he  possessed 
no  regular  authority  of  this  kind,  he  confessed 
to  them  the  fact.    Through  their  means,  this 
became  known ;  and  was  employed  by  the 
white  traders  and  the  opposing  Indians  as  cer 
tain  evidence  that  he  was  an  impostor.     This 
circumstance  operated,  for  awhile,  considera 
bly  to  his  disadvantage.    He  thereupon  com 
municated  a  knowledge  of  his  truly  disagreea^ 
ble  situation  to  the  Quarterly-Meeting  Con- 
7 


74 

ference  of  Mad  river  circuit,  who  advised  him 
by  letter  to  continue  his  labours  until  mea 
sures  could  be  taken  to  procure  for  him  a 
regular  license  as  a  Preacher  of  the  Gospel, 
and  at  the  same  time  gave  him  assurances  of 
their  decided  approbation  of  the  course  he 
had  pursued.  Until  now  it  was  unknown  in 
the  white  settlements  that  any  religious  excite- 
jnent  existed  among  the  Indians,  or  that  Stew 
art  was  among  them,  or  even  that  such  a  man 
existed.  The  Quarterly  Conference  thought 
it  advisabje  that  some  person  should  visit  the 
Indians,  to  aid  the  good  work  which  had  so 
prosperously  commenced  among  them-;  ac 
cordingly  Moses  M.  Henkle,  a  young  man  QI 
JVTad  river  circuit,  who  had  just  entered  the 
ministry  >  volunteered  in  this  novel  and  impor 
tant  work.  Early  in  the  month  of  February, 
A.  D,  1819,  he  set  out  on  this*  missionary  tour, 
and  spent  some  length  of  time  in  labouring 
among  the  Wyandotts.  At  this  time  there 
was  a  mighty  out-pouring  of  the  good  spirit 
among.them.  Many  professed  to  have  found 
the  pearl  of  great  price,  and  many  others  were 
inquiring  the  way  to  Zion,  deeply  mourning 


It 

their  past  sins.  In  short  it  was  believed  thai 
the  labours  of  this  young  man  at  this  time 
were  of  great  and  signal  benefit ;  as  his  preach 
ing  served  completely  to  confirm  .what  Stew 
art  had  before  taught.  Having  during  the 
time  of  his  stay  at  Sandusky  had  a  good  op 
portunity  of  witnessing  Stewart's  deportment, 
and  being  fully  satisfied  of  his  piety  and  use 
fulness,  brought  away  with  him  a  certificate  of 
membership  which  Stewart  had  obtained  at 
Marietta,  a  certificate  of  his  having  been  there 
recommended  by  his  class  for  license  tq  ex 
hort,  and  also  certificates  of  his  character  and 
usefulness,  from  the  time  of  his  first  appear 
ing  at  Sandusky,  from  several  of  the  chiefs, 
Mr.  Walker,  the  sub-agent,  and  from  several 
other  persons,  at  the  same  time  directing 
Stewart  to  attend,  the  next  Quarterly  meeting 
for  Mad  river  circuit,  to  be  held  at  Urbana,  in, 
the  month  of  March,  1819.  At  which  time, 
and  place  Stewart  attended.  He  was  intro 
duced  to  the  Quarterly  Conference,  and  the 
papers  above  mentioned  being  submitted  and 
examined  in  open  Conference,  by  Bishop 
George  and  the  Presiding  Elder,  Moses 


76 

Grume ;  and  the  case  being  fully  understood 
by  the  Conference,  he  was  regularly  licensed 
to  preach  the  Gospel.    The  information  given 
by  Stewart  and  M.  M.  Henkle  to  this  Con 
ference,  induced  a  full  conviction  in  their 
minds,  that  the  condition,  of  the^  Wyandotts 
loudly  called  for  aid.    But  as  it  was  near  six 
months  until  the  sitting  of  the  Annual  Confer 
ence,  the  question  was,  what  could  be  done 
(in  addition  to  Stewart's  regular  labours)  to 
supply  them  until  the  time  of  Conference  ? 
Finally,  volunteers  were  called  for.    Where 
upon,  Moses  Henkle,  senior,  Joseph  Mitchell, 
Robert  Miller,  Samuel  Hitt,  James  Mont 
gomery  and  Saul  Henkle,  Local  Preachers 
of  Mad  river  circuit,  agreed  to  supply  them 
with  preaching  once  a  month  during  the 
time  aforesaid;   which  was  done;  although 
one  or  two  of  those  men  could  not  make  it 
convenient  within  the  time  to  take  their  turn. 
Stewart  still  continued  his  regular  labours, 
and  was  much  esteemed,  not  only  by  those 
of  the  nation  to  whom  he  had  been  peculiar 
ly  useful,  but  by  those  brethren  above  named, 
who  visited  Sandusky  and  were  witnesses  of 


his  work  of  faith  and  labour  of  Jove.  Jc  is 
said,  however,  that  he  efFectexi  more  real 
good  among  those  people,  by  visiting  from 
house  to  house  and  holding  private  conferen 
ces  with  them  on  the  subject  of  religion,  than 
by  his  more  public  labours.  The  difficulties 
which  he  had  to  encounter,  while  striving  to 
build  up  the  walls  of  Zion  in  this  once  howl 
ing  wilderness,  being  almost  innumerable, 
required  much  Christian  fortitude  and  pa- 
tience.  Under  all  his  trials  he  gave  satisfac 
tory  evidence  that  he  had,  in  a  good  degree, 
learned  of  Jesus  to  be  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart.  Scarcely  a  week  at  a  time  passed,  but 
some  report  or  other  calculated  and  intended 
to  injure  his  usefulness  among  those  people 
was  put  in  circulation,  and  principally  by 
wicked  and  designing  white  men.  Notwith 
standing  all  these  things,  he  still  retained  his 
deserved  share  of  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  many  of  the  Wyaridotts.  As  a  proof  of 
ibis,  sometime  after  the  Treaty  at  Fort  Meigs, 
a-number  of  the  Wyandott  people  made  ap 
plication  to  the  chiefs,  for  liberty  to  settle 
Stewart  permanently  OR  the  section  of  land, 
7* 


fd 

iiuhe  centre  of  their  reservation,  which  wasi, 
by  the  provisions  of  the  treaty,  set  apart  for 
the  support  of  a  Missionary.  To  this  the 
chiefs  did  not  feel  themselves  at  liberty  ta 
consent ;  but  said  they  were  willing  he  should 
stay  on  it  until  the  Missionary  provided  for  in 
the  treaty  should  come  and  enter  upon,  his 
duties,  and  thereupon  adopted  him  into  the 
nation,  and  divided  with  him  their  annuities. 
About  the  time,  or  soon  after  the  visit  of 
young  M.  Henkle,  an  aged  woman  and  one 
of  Stewart's  constant  hearers,  died  a  witness 
of  the  reality  of  the  religion  which  he  was 
constantly  striving  to  promote  among  them. 
She  was  of  a  family  of  Wyandotts  who  were 
very  much  attached  to  .their  heathenish  cus 
toms,  and  violently  opposed  to  the  "  white 
man's  religion,"  as  they  called  it.  She  atten 
tively  listened  to  Stewart's  preaching,  and 
for  some  time  was  in  great  doubts  how  to 
decide  or  what  step  to  take.  Being  an 
earnest  inquirer  after  truth,  she  for  some 
time  "halted  between  two  opinions."  At 
length,  having  consulted  some  of  the  Christian 
Wyandotts,  who  gave  her  great  encouragment, 


79 

slie  openly  renounced  all  her  heathenish  cus 
toms,  and  sought  diligently  the  pearl  of  great 
price.  Her  younger  brother,  (Frost,  who 
pretended  to  be  a  necromancer,  was  greatly 
enraged  when  he  learned  that  his  sister  had 
embraced  the  religion  taught  by  the  "Hesent 
see"*  preacher,  and  in  a  most  furious  manner, 
threatened  to  take  the  preacher's  life  by  means 
of  the  supernatural  power  which  he  possessed, 
He  used  many  means  to  prevail  on  her  to 
abjure  Christianity,  but  all  in  vain ;  he  pur* 
sued  her  with  his  arguments  and  his  threats, 
but  she  was  inflexible;  she  defended  her  reli 
gion  by  solid  arguments  which  he  was  unable 
to  answer ;  he  then  left  her  house,  declaring 
that  he  would  never  again  enter  it.  It  is  be 
lieved  he  kept  his  word,  for  sometime  after-* 
wards,  while  out  on  a  hunting  tour,  he  was 
killed  in  a  drunken  frolic  by  one  of  his  own 
party.  This  woman  continued  faithful  to 
the  good  cause  of  religion  until  she  was  called 
home  to  her  reward. 
Since  we  have  given  place  to  biography. 

The  Wyandott  word  for  Jtogro. 


80 

we  cannot  forbear  giving  a  sketch 
was  the  first  fruits  of  Stewart's  ministry,  to 
wit:  Catharine  Warpole,  the  woman  who 
proposed  making  a  collection  for  Stewart, 
mentioned  in  the  former  part  of  this  work. — 
She  was  the  wife  of  Warpole,  a  war  Chief  of 
the  nation,  who  was  much  given  to  habits  of 
intemperance.  When  Stewart  first  came  to 
Sandusky,  he  was  out  hunting,  and  did  not 
return  until  the  next  summer.  During  his 
absence  Mrs.  Warpple  attended  Stewart's 
preaching,  and  in  a  short  time  was  deeply 
convinced  of  sin,  (although  she  had  been  all 
her  life,  a  remarkably  exemplary  and  moral 
woman,)  began  to  Inquire  what  she  should  do 
to  be  saved,  and  determined  to  forsake  every 
thing  sinful  and  seek  the  salvation  of  her 
soul,  let  the  present  consequences  be  what 
they  might.  When  her  husband  came  home, 
he  soon  learned  what  had  been  going  on  in 
his  absence,  and  among  other  things,  that  his 
wife  had  embraced  this  new  religion.  He 
immediately  gave  her  to  understand  that  he 
v/as  not  pleased  with  the  step  she  had  taken, 
and  that  he  would  never  give  his  consent  to 


si 

having  any  sew  system  of  religion  totrodu* 
ced  into  bis  house.  She  endeavoured  in.  tain 
to  convince  him  of  his  error.  He  commen 
ced  a  course  of  persecution  and  cruelty  to* 
wards  her.  She  hoped  that  after  a  season 
he  would  relax  his  severity  and  they  would 
live  more  agreeably ;  hut  in  this  she  was  dis-. 
appointed.  She  continued  to  seek  the  Lord, 
and  to  call  upon  him  for  strength  to  support 
her  in  her  trying  hours.  After  a  considera 
ble  length  of  time  had  elapsed,  and  there  ap 
pearing  to  he  no  prospect  of  peace  and  tran- 
quility  being  restored  unless  she  would  re 
nounce  and  abandon  her  religious  pursuits ; 
with  the  advice  of  some  friends,  she  con 
cluded  to  leave  all  and  make  her  way  to 
Canada,  where  she  had  some  connexions.— 
Accordingly  she  took  an  opportunity  and 
started.  She  had  not  been  long  gone,  before 
Warpole  suspecting  the  step  she  had  taken, 
pursued  and  overtook  her  at  a  Wyandott  set? 
tlement,  called  the  Big  Springs.  As  soon  as 
he  came  into  the  house  at  which  she  had 
stopped,  he  immediately  began  beating  her 
With  his  tomahawk  handle,  in  a  most  furious 


and  violent  manner.  She  submitted  patient!/ 
to  these  insults  and  returned  with  him.  He 
blamed  Stewart  with  being  the  cause  of  her 
becoming  deranged  in  mind,  and  was  much 
opposed  to  his  preaching  to  the  Wyandotts 
at  all.  So  she  remained  until  Mr.  Henkle 
came  and  entered  upon  his  missionary  la 
bours,  still  receiving  insults  and  abuses  at 
his  hands  until  her  situation  became  quite 
intolerable.  In  this  situation,  through  Stew 
art,  she  made  application  to  Mr.  Henkle  for 
liberty  to  take  refuge  from  those  excessive 
abuses,  at  his  house,  to  which  he  consented, 
and  thereupon  by  a  friend,  she  was  in  the 
night  season,  conveyed  some  miles  distant  from 
the  village,  and  then  she  proceeded  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Henkle,  a  distance  from  San- 
dusky  of  seventy-five  or  eighty  miles,  where, 
and  at  Mr.  Armstrong's  at  the  head  of  Mad 
river,  she  remained  for  several  months,  and 
then  returned  to  Sandusky.  Some  time  after 
this,  her  husband  professing  an  anxiety  to 
have  her  return  to  and  live  with  him ;  pro 
mising  most  solemnly  that  in  future  he  would 
treat  her  in  a  better  manner :  she  having 


83 

strong  doubts  whether  it  were  her  duty  to  do 
so  or  not,  sought  for  counsel  and  aid  from 
others,  in  regard  to  this  important  affair.  In 
order  to  this,  she  pursued  the  following 
method,  to  wit :  to  have  the  case  laid  before 
the  preachers  and  some  of  the  principal 
members  of  the  Church  at  a  camp-meeting 
which  was  to  be  held  on  Mad  river  circuit. 
This  was  attended  to,  her  husband  himself 
attending,  gave  assurances  to  the  meeting  that 
he  was  sensible  of  his  former  wrong  in  this 
behalf,  and  that  in  future  he  would  amend. 
It  was  judged  best  that  she  should  once  more 
make  an  attempt  to  live  with  him,  and  accord 
ingly  she  was  so  advised.  She  made  the  at 
tempt,  and  although  he- kept  good  his  vows 
for  a  short  time,  he  soon  began  again  ta  treat 
her  cruelly,  and  th&n  left  her  and  took  another 
woman.  She  has  since  been  married  to 
John  Hicks,  a  respectable  Christian  Chief  of 
the  nation,  and  is  to  the  present  day,  as  is 
believed  by  her  acquaintances,  walking  and 
living  as  a  follower  of  Christ. 

About  this  time  another  formidable  oppo- 
ser  of  religion  arose,  threatening  its  total  anni- 


84 

filiation  among  the  Wyandotts.  This  was 
(he  head  Chief  of  the  nation  Duon-Quot ;  a 
man  warmly  attached  to  their  heat>enfsh  cus 
toms,  and  violently  opposed  to  the  Introduc 
tion  of  the  Gospel  among  his  people;  espe 
cially,  as  he  discovered  that  a  reception  of 
the  Gospel  as  taught  by  Stewart,  would  ne 
cessarily  result  in  the  entire  overthrow  of  the 
customs  and  religion  of  their  ancestors.  He 
soon  found  a  number  of  adherents  who  were 
glad  of  the  opportunity  of  arraying  them* 
selves  under  so  powerful  a  leader.  These 
ihings  did  not  damp  the  ardour  of  the  zeal  of 
those  who  had'  embraced  the  "  glad  tidings 
of  great  joy."  Duon-Quot  used  every  in 
trigue  and  artifice  he  could  invent,  to  over 
throw  the  faith  of  Christian  professors.  In 
this  conduct  of  this  Chief,  there  appeared  a 
strange  inconsistency,  he  having  lately  con 
sented  to  the  article  in  the  Treaty,  which 
made  provision  for  the  settlement  of  a  Mis 
sionary  and  establishment  of  a  school  among 
the  Wyandotts.  In  a  subsequent  revival  of 
the  work  of  religion,  when  a  large  number  of 
his  adherents  withdrew  from  his  party,  and 


85 

became  professors  of  religion,  he  was  heard 
to  say,  "  Well,  the  white  man's  religion  may 
go  on  from  house  to  house,  until  the  whole 
nation  embraces  it,  but  when  it  comes  to  my 
house,  it  must  there  stop."  Unhappy  man  t 
little  did  he  think  when  he  uttered  these  words, 
so  fraught  with  hostility  to  the  best  of  causes, 
that  in  a  few  day's  his  soul  would  be  required 
of  him;  for  in  a  short  time  he  was  most  vio 
lently  attacked  with  the  billious  fever,  and 
death  seemed  to  be  his  inevitable  fate  j  but 
the  merciful  Lord  against  whom  he  had  rais 
ed  the  puny  arm  of  rebellion,  who  delighteth 
not  in  the  death  6f  a  sinner,  as  if  willing  to 
give  him  another  of  fleeing  for  refuge,  &c. 
rebuked  his  disease  and  restored  him  to  a 
good  degree  of  health.  But  alas !  no  sign  of 
reformation^— his  returning  strength  was  again 
employed  in  the  destruction  of  his  own  soul 
oy  resisting  the  work  of  the  Lord,  He  was 
again  thrown  upon  a  sick  bed,  and  his  disease 
raged  violently ;  he  sent  for  one  of  the  conju 
rers  or  necromancers,  hoping  that  he  could 
remove  the  disease.  T  conjurer  powt 
wowed  over  him,  but  could  effect  no  cure.*- 

a 


6(5 

He  then  sent  for  James  B.  Fmley,  (who 
at  this  time  was  missionary  at  Sandusky,) 
wishing  to  try  the  efficacy  of  the  white  man's 
medicine?  Mr.  Finley  went  and  administered 
such  medicines  ,to  him  as  he  judged  most 
suitable,  but  all  in  vain;  the  iron  hand  of 
death — stern  death  had  laid  hold  of  him,  he 
must  submit  to  the  inflexible  decree.    During 
this  tinie  Stewart  visited  him,  but  it  is  not 
now  kriown  what  conversation  he  had  with 
him.  He  was  surrounded  by  a  large  concourse 
of  his  friends  and  adherents  during  his  illness, 
whom  h$  amused  Occasionally  with  his  sallies 
of  Wit  and  obscene  jests ;  thus  he  continued 
to  manifest  a  perfect  indifference  with  regard 
to  the  affairs  of  his  soul  which  was  then  hov 
ering  about  the  shores  of  eternity.     Once, 
sometime  before  he  expired,  when  in  great 
agony,  he  was  heard  to  say  "  If  I  should  be 
permitted  to  live  a  little  longer,  I  would  go 
to  meeting*"    No  further  signs  of  repentance 
appeared;  the  closing  scene  came  on,  "death 
with  all  the  sad  variety  of  pain,"  extinguish 
ed  the  vital  spark,  and  he  died,  it  is  believed 
•without  once  calling  on  the  name  of  Jesus  for 
mercy. 


About  the  time  Duon-quot  lose  up  la  op 
position  to  the  progress  of  religion,  an  influ 
ential  person  arose  ia  defence  of  it ;  this  WAS 
l$6tween-the-Logst  one  of  Jthe  principal  couar 
sellers  of  the  nation,  a  roan  well  known  aa  ad 
orator  and  a  man  of  brilliant  talents ;  he  had 
heretofore  remained  neutral,  although  an 
attentive  hearer  of  Stewart's.  By  his  activity  j 
he  succeeded  in  a  great  degree  Jn  counteract 
ing  the  hostile  and  mischievous  plans  of  Dtlon- 
quot  It  should  here  he  understood,  that  a 
Wyandott  Chief  by  the  name  of  Matthew 
Peacock,  was  the  first  Chief  that  was  added 
as  a  seal  to  Stewart's  ministry.  It  was  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  year  1819,  that  Moses  Hen- 
kle,  Sen.  having  been  appointed  missionary 
to  aid  the  work  among  the  Wyandotts,  .by 
visiting  them  once  a  month,  and  preach  to 
and  otherwise  ad  vise  them  in  matters  of  interest 
to  them,  as  well  for  the  present  life  as  that 
which  is  to  come.  His  missionary  labours 
continued  for  two  years  to  the  great  satisfac 
tion  of  the  Christian  part  of  the  Wyandott 
people}  during  which  time  much  good  appear 
ed  to  be  done-  Although  the  principal  charge 


88 

and  care  of  this  flock  was  now  committed  to 
Mr.  Henkle,  he  appeared  to  consider  himself 
only  in  the  light  of  an  assistant  to  that  good 
man  who  under  God,  had  commenced  this 
good  work.  After  Mr.  Henkle  began  ta 
labour  in  concert  with  Stewart,  Between- 
ike-Logs,  Peacockt  John  Hicks  and  Manon- 
cue,  that  once  violent  enemy  and  opposer  of 
religion,  united  themselves  with  those  who 
were  striving  to  serve  the  Lord  and  save  their 
souls.  Two-Logs,  during  the  life-time  of 
Duon-quot,  continued  hostile  to  the  good 
cause ;  he  was  much  exasperated  on  hearing 
that  his  younger  brother,  Between-the-Logs, 
had  embraced  religion;  he  proceeded  imme 
diately  to  his  house  and  made  a  most  violent 
attack  upon,  abusing  him  for  abandoning  the 
religion  and  customs  of  their  forefathers. 

It  is  perhaps  worthy  of  remark,  that  some 
time  during  the  mission  of  Mr.  Henkle,  a 
certain  woman  who  was  inimical  to  Stewart 
and  his  doctrines,  and  a  relation  to  the  chief 
Duon-quot,  (who  was  then  yet  living)  was  ac 
cused  of  the  crime  of  witchcraft;  this  occasion 
ed  considerable  excitement  among  the  people. 


89 

Mr.  Henkle  and  Stewart  laboured  to  convince 
them  of  the  absurdity  of  their  suspicions,  this, 
however,  was  not  easily  accomplished,  those 
suspicions  became  stronger  and  stronger, 
notwithstanding  singular.plans  appear  to  have 
been  resorted  to  by  the  accused  to  divert  the 
public  attention  from  the  subject,  which  it  is 
not  deemed  important  to  lay  before  the  reader. 
Some  of  the  Chiefs,  and  especially  her  rela 
tive  Duon-quot,  and  Warpole,  became  fujly 
satisfied  of  her  guilt,  and  determined  that  she 
ought  to  die.  When  Stewart  was  informed 
of  this,  although  he  knew  her  to  be  his  enemy, 
he  lost  no  time,  but  hastened  to  place  himself 
before  those  Chiefs  to  plead  for  her  life. — 
However,  at  a  time  when  no  other  Chiefs 
were  present,  Duon-quot  ordered  two  young 
men  to  execute  her,  which  was  promptly 
attended  to.  From  that  time  to  the  present, 
there  have  been  no  disturbances  among  them 
of  the  same  nature. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  1821,  the  Ohio  An 
nual  Conference  appointed  James  B.  Finley, 
missionary,  to  proceed  to  Upper  Sandusky* 
with  his  family,  work-hands,  &c.  to  erect 
8* 


90 

suitable  buildings  for  the  school,  &c.  Pur 
suant  to  his  appointment,  he  without  delay 
repaired  to  the  place  assigned  him,  and  enter 
ed  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  Here, 
Stewart's  labours  appear,  after  this  arrange 
ment,  to  be  less  conspicuous;  he  continued 
to  labour,  inviting  sinners  to  the  Gospel  feast. 
Mr.  Finley  had  not  many  difficulties  to  en 
counter  in  his  labours  among  the  Wyandotts; 
the  great  stone  of  opposition  to  religion  was 
less  formidable ;  much  good  seed  had  been 
sown  by  the  preaching  of  Stewart,  and  by  the 
labours  of  several  of  the  local  preachers  that 
visited  them  before  the  mission  was  establish 
ed;  at  this  time  much  of  the  seed  began 
to  discover  signs  of  successful  vegetation. — 
All  that  was  now  wanting  was  the  doors  of 
the  visible  church  to  be  thrown  open,  and  the 
invitation  given ;  a  large  number  was  ready 
and  willing  to  come  in,  some  sound  converts 
ready  to  come  and  shout  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  some  true  penitents  ready  to  come 
in  and  fall  at  the  altar  and  cry,  "  God  be  merci 
ful  to  me  a  sinner."  From  this  time,  the  work 
went  on  in  a  most  prosperous  manner;  classes 


were  formed  in  diffirent  directions',  composed 
entirely  of  Wyandott  converts.    In  the  fall  of 
1823,  Stewart  enjoyed  but  poor  health;  not 
withstanding  this  he  ceased  not  to  labour  for 
the  salvation  of  his  poor  fellow  men,  "  in  sea 
son  and  out  of  season."    It  was  in  the  month 
of  August  that  his  indisposition  commenced, 
hut  had  some  intermissions,  so  that  he  was 
enabled  occasionally  to  preach.    In  Septem 
ber  his  disease  grew  worse ;  he  suffered  much, 
hut  not  a  murmur  or  complaint  escaped  him. 
His  complaint  continued  but  with  little  inter 
mission,  until  the  second  Sabbath  in  Decem 
ber,  when  he  began  to  suspect  his  time  of 
sojourning  below  was  but  short.    A  day  or 
two  previous,  Mr.   Finley,  Manoncue  and 
Jonathan,  (the  latter  for  Interpreter,)  set  out 
to  visit  a  Wyandott  settlement  in  the  province 
of  Upper  Canada  j  Manoncue  and  Jonathan 
called  to  see  him  before  they  set  out  on  their 
journey,  suspecting  they  should  see  his  face 
no  more  in  this  world;  after  some  conversa 
tion,  Manoncua  proposed  prayer,  which  was 
readily  agreed  to;  Manoncue  then  kneeled 
down  by  the  bed-side,  and  poured  out  his 


soul  to  God  on  behalf  of  his  afflicted  ^fri 
After  .some  further  conversation,  they  took  aa 
affectionate  farewell  of  him,  when  he  said  to 
Jonathan,  "tell  Mr.  Finley  for  me,  to  be 
faithful  and  meet  me  in  glory."  On  the  14th 
he  found  a  great  change  in  his  complaint.— 
On  Monday  the  15th,  he  was  perfectly  speech 
less,  and  remained  in  that  condition  until 
Tuesday.  All  this  time  his  soul  appeared 
to  be  engaged  with  God.  On  Tuesday  morn 
ing  he  informed  his  wife  that  the  time  of  his 
departure  was  at  hand  ;  he  rose  up  in  his  bed 
and  informed  those  present  that  he  was  going 
to  die,  and  exhorted  them  to  seek  the  Lord 
for  mercy  and  salvation ;  he  told  them  that 
his  peace  was  made,  and  he  was  going  to 
enjoy  that  Test  which  remaineth  for  the  people 
of  God.  Through  the  day  he  was  as  before, 
speechless;  that  night  he  was  quite  restless, 
and  seemed  to  suffer  much  with  pains  in  his 
back.  Wednesday  morning  he  was  in  the 
same  situation,  still  unable  to  speak.  While 
his  wife  was  busied  in  attending  on  him,  he 
appeared  to  manifest  a  wish  to  speak  to  her, 
she  asked  him  what  he  wanted  to  say  ?  H$ 


then  took  her  by  the  hand  and  faintly  ariicu* 
lated,  "wife,  It  faithful  f  these  were  his 
last  words;  he  died  at  twelve  o'clock  on  that 
day,  being  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  seventh  year  of  his  ministry. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  although  Stewart's 
wife,  when  he  married  her  in  the  winter  of 
1818,  was  quite  an  intelligent  young  Woman, 
yet  she  was  not  religious ;  through  the  instru 
mentality,  however,  of  her  pious  husband,  it 
is  believed  she  became  a  subject  of  saving 
grace. 

It  may  here  be  noticed,  as  it  %has  not  been 
done*  sooner,  that  Two-Logs,  a  Chief  men 
tioned  in  the  former  part  of  this  narrative,  as 
being  a  great  opposer,  .in  the  midst  of  his 
opposition  was  arrested  by  the  hand, of  afflic- 
tiori,  and  brought  to  languish  on  a  sick  bed ; 
this  brought  him  to  serious  reflection;  he 
found  that  his  fathers'  religion  would  not  sus 
tain  him  in  a  dying  hour ;  he  then  resolved 
that  if  the  Lord  would  spare  his  life,  he  would 
turn  and  seek  salvation.  He  was  restored  to 
health,  and  became  an  humble,  docile,  and 
devout  Christian,  and  died  in  peace. 


94 


RISE,  ye  heralds  of  salvation, 

Blow  the  Gospel-trumpet,  blow; 
Go  to  ev'ry  tribe  and  nation, 

Hear  !  your  Master  bids  you  go. 
Hark!  his  word,  his  Spirit  urges, 

Count  no  enterprise  too  hard, 
Dauntless  cross  the  mountain  surges, 

Christ  himself  will  be  your  gaurd. 
God  protects,  what  pow'r  can  harm  you  ? 

Winds  and  seas  obey  his  power  ; 
What  threatening  evil  shall  alarm  you* 

Or  what  furious  foe  devour  ? 
Quit  no  duty,  fear  no  danger, 

Go  to  all  the  fallen  race, 
Say  to  every  outcast  stranger, 

Ye  may  now  be  saved  by  grace. 
Go,  with  heav'nly  ardour  burning, 

Bright  with  Christ's  transmitted  rays> 
Comfort  those  in  darkness  mourning, 

Turn  their  sighs  to  songs  of  praise* 
Bear  his  cross,  which  is  your  glory, 

Spread  your  Master's  glorious  fame  ; 
Tell  his  crucifixion  story$ 

Tell  the  world  his  wond'rous  name* 
Idols  then  shall  fall  like  Dagon, 

Heathen  darkness  flee  away; 
Every  poor  benighted  pagan, 

See  the  light  of  glorious  day. 
Deserts  shall  rejoice  with  singing, 

lonely  wastes  shall  lift  their  voice, 


95 

Barren  wilds  with  verdure  springing 

Bloom  a  fruitful  paradise. 
Sing,  ye  saints,  a  day  of  gladness 

Dawns  already  from  on  high, 
Put  on  joy  for  sable/sadness, 

Wipe  the  tear,  repress  the  sigh* 
Soon  will  Ziion's  King  descending, 

Cloth'd  in  regal  robes  appear, 
Earth  shall,  to  his  sceptre  bending, 

Hail  the  great  millenial  year, 


ON  ETEB.WXTTT. 

MOURNING  a^id  drooping  here  I  lie, 

Upon  this  earthly  clod ; 
While  heavenly  things  invite  my  eyes, 

And  bring  me  to  my  God. 
Transported  with  a  joyful  view1. 

Of  God's  eternal  love, 
Unto  this  world  I  bid  adieu, 

And  long  to  be  above. 
Where  all  the  saints  in  harmony, 

Their  Saviour's  praise  declare, 
In  that  bright  realm  of  endless  day, 

There's  not  one  mourner  there. 
When  they've  been  there  ten  thousand  years), 

Bright  shining  as  the  sun, 
There's  no  less,  days  to  sing  God's  praise, 

Than  when  they  first  begun. 
And  then  as  many  years  should  pass, 

As  sands  upon  the  shore; 


96 

The  saints  above  Would  have  no  fear, 
That  the  blest  space  is  o'er. 

If  all  the  drops  in  ocean's  wide, 

Were  to  be  numbered  o'er, 
And  then  by  millions  multiplied, 

And  twice  as  many  more* 
And  then  as  many  years  should  pass, 

As  water  drops  in  all,* 
Or  grains  of  sand,  or  spires  of  grass, 

Upon  this  earthly  ball. 
And  then  as  many  millions  more, 

As  stars  that  fill  the  sky ; 
Then  all  that  number  doubled  o'er, 

Can't  meet  ETERNITY, 

Eternity  will  still  remain, 

'Twill  be  Eternity; 
The  song  to  Christ,  who  once  was  slain* 

Will  last  eternally. 
Amen !  they  cry,  Amen,  Amen, 

Thy  ways,  O  God  !  are  true ; 
Honour  and  power  and  glory  then. 

Thanksgiving  is  thy  due. 
Honour  and  power  and  endless  might, 

Be  given  to  the  Lord ; 
In  this  sweet  song  they'll  all  unite,. 

And  sing  with  one  accord. 
Who  can  describe  that  blessedness, 

Of  pleasures  ever  new ; 
I  long  that  glory  to  possess^ 

And  bid  all  sin  adieu. 


•t 


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